
AGRICULTURE 



^FOR 





ALLEN BOWIE DAVIS 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN B. PIET& C( 

— BALTIMORE, 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Si 4 ^ 5 
Shelf jD 2. 5 

^ PRESENTED BY 

UNITED STATES OF AMEEIOA. 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE. 



FOR THE 



Use of Schools, 



BY 



/ 



ALLEN BOWIE DAVIS, 

LATE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE MARYLAND AGRICULTURAL 
COLLEGE. 



BALTIMORE: 
JOHN B. PIET & CO., 

174 W. Baltimore Street. 
1883. 



Copyright, 

JOHN B. PIET & CO. 

1883. 






^ti\U\\ix$\u 



To HENRY D. FARNANDIS, Esq., 

Harford County, Maryland. 
My Dear Sir :—! begr leave to dedicate to you this work 
on the Elements of Agriculture, to be used in Schools as a 
preliminary training for the College, or for the field and the 
farm. 

Having teen associated with you for some years as a 
trustee of the Maryland Agricultural College, I was led to 
form so high an estimate of your character as a man and 
a citizen, as a farmer and a patriot, that I am induced to ask 
this permission. I am, 

With great respect. 

Your friend and obedient servant, 

THE AUTHOR. 



lii 



PREFACE 



IN a New Year's communication to the old American 
Farmer the first paper published in America on the 
subject of agriculture, the author advanced the idea that 
the best mode of teaching agriculture in the schools was 
to begin in the primary schools. 

This suggestion drew out inquiry as to the proper 
mode of introducing the subject into the schools, and 
for suitable text-books for the use of teachers and pupils. 
To the surprise of all, such books were not to be found, 
and the author was called upon by his present publishers 
to compile a book that might be suitable. 

The subject, though interesting, is foreign to the habits 
and time of life of the author ; yet he has undertaken it, 
and this little work, the result of a few weeks' labor, for 
the use and instruction of children, is offered to the public 
exclusively on its own merits. 

As a foundation for agricultural knowledge, the origin, 
mode of cultivation, and use of plants, have been sought 
out and kept in view. The catechetical form of instruc- 
tion which has been adopted is believed to be the best 
suited to arrest the attention and convey lasting instruc- 
tion to the tender minds of those for whom the work is 
intended. 

It is not claimed that any theories or facts have been 
adduced in this work other than those well established 
and well known as the common property of all farmers. 

A. B. D. 



CONTENTS. 



CTIAPTER 



I. Definitions: The Earth; Kain ; Mist; Fog 
II. Definitions: Cultivation; Fertilizers; Plants 

III. Definitions : Grain ; Farms ; Measurements 

IV. Definitions : Farm Fertilizers 
V. Definitions : Mineral Fertilizers . 

YI. Definitions : Tillage ; The Plow and its Uses 

VII. The Object of Plowing 

VIII. Corn: When it may be Planted, and how it 

Originated 

IX. Corn, continued : Its Indian Origin ; its Uses 
X. Corn, continued : Its Enemies ; Development 
XI. Corn, continued: Fodder; Corn Measurement 

and History 

XII. Corn, continued : Grinding to Flour 

XIII. Corn, continued: Corn-tassel; Selection for Seed 

Price per Bushel ; Hominy 

XIV. Wheat: AVhere Grown; Clover . 

XV. Wheat, continued: Plowing; Sowing; Harvest 

ing 

XVI. Wheat, continued : Elevators ; Bolting ; Malt 
XVII. Rotation of Crops : Tobacco .... 
XVIII. Tobacco, continued : Treatment 

XIX. Rye: Ergot 

XX. Oats 

XXI. Potatoes ........ 

XXII. Cabbage 

XXIII. The Carrot : A Useful Food for Consumj^tives 

XXIV. The Parsnip : " It is Xerve and Brain Food " 
XXV. The Onion : How Used in Ancient Times . 

XXVI. The Turnip: Its Medicinal Properties . 

1* V 



t 

8 
9 
11 
13 
14 
15 

17 

18 
19 

21 



24 
26 

28 
30 
31 

OO 

35 
37 
38 
40 
41 
43 
44 
45 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXYII. The Bean: Wholesome Food for Man and Beast 46 

XXVIII. The Pea: Good for Scorbutic Humors . . 47 

XXIX. Lettuce : A Promoter of Sleep ... 49 

XXX. The Beet : Sometimes used to make Sugar . 50 

XXXI. The Egg-plant : How Raised and Cooked . 51 

XXXII. The Tomato : Anti-bilious, and a Preventive 

of Chills and Fevers 52 

XXXIII. The Strawberry : The Best Way to Cultivate . 53 

XXXIV. Berries : Their Healthfulness and Pecuniary 

Value 54 

XXXV. The Grape : Beneficial for the General Health 50 
XXXVI. The Horse-Radish and Common Radish : Ex- 
cellent for Digestion . , , . .57 
XXXVII. Parsley, Celery, and Rhubarb . . .59 

XXXVIII. Asparagus and Poke CI 

XXXIX. The Barometer : Signs of Rain . . .63 

XL. Review 65 

XLI. The Horse, Cow, and Hog .... 68 
XLII. Agricultural Machinery : Its Uses . . . 69 

XLIII. The Farm-house 74 

XLIV. Flower Gardens 77 

XLV. Sentiments of Plants and Flowers . . .78 

XLVI. The Geranium 81 

XLVII. Botanical Geography 84 

XLVIII. Cereals 88 

XLIX. Zones, Tropics, and Bread Lines . . .89 

L. Raising Poultry 91 

LI. Sheep Raising 94 

LII. The Bee : Its Honey 100 

LIII. Fruit-Trees 104 

LIV. Canning 106 

LV. Butter 108 

LVI. The Weather.— The Moon . . . .109 

LVII. Tea and Coffee Ill 

LVIII. Thunder-storms 112 

LIX. Clover 114 

LX. Remarks on Grasses 116 

Appendix 1 118 

Appendix II 122 



AGRICULTURE. 

CHAPTER I. 

Definitions: The Earth; Rain; Mist; Fog. 

Q. What is agriculture ? 

A. It is the art of cultivating the soil of the earth. 

Q. What is the earth ? 

A. It is the planet on which we live. 

Q. What is the surface of the earth ? 
A. It is the outside of the earth. 

Q. Of what is the surface of the earth composed? 
A. Of land and water. 

Q. What is land? 

A. It is the solid matter composing the surface of the 
earth. 

Q. What is this solid matter usuallj' called ? 
A. The ground or soil. 

Q. What is water? 

A. The fluid which falls from the clouds in drops. 

Q. What are these drops usually called? 
A. They are called rain. 

Q. When water falls in very small drops, what is it called ? 
A. It is called mist. 

Q. What is /o^r.? 

A. It is particles of water moving in the air, yet too 
small to be seen. 



8 AGTwICULTURE. 

Observation. — Drops of rain are so large that they 
may be plainly seen. Fog is a motionless cloud lying 
near, or in contact with, the earth's surface. Like rain, 
mist and fog enrich the soil and furnish food for plants. 
Soil is sometimes called mold or loam. 

Take your dictionary and find the meaning of the 
words — Fluid, solid, composed, particle, observation, 
motionless, contact, enrich, mold or mould., and loam. 



CHAPTER II. 

Definitions ; Cultivation ; Fertilizers ; Plants. 

Q. What is meant bv cnltivatins: the soil ? 
A. It is bestowing labor and care upon it, with a view 
to valuable returns. 

Q. What else is meant by it ? 

A. It means, also, to devote time and thought in 
fertilizing it. 

Q. AVhat is it to fertilize the soil? 

A. It is to supply it with food for plants, making it 
rich and productive. 

Q. What is manure ? 

A. It is any matter which makes land productive, such 
as the contents of stables and barnyards, wood-ashes, 
and decaying animal and vegetable substances. 

Q. What are natural fertilizers ? 

A. All kinds of vegetable matter, living or dead, rock, 
snow and ice, which serve as a covering for the soil. 

Observation. — The dead seed feeds the living plant. 

Q. What is a plant ? 

A. It is a vegetable, having, when complete, a root, 
stem, and leaves. 

Q. What is a vegetable in the common sense of the word? 
A. It is a plant used for cooking. Cabbage, potatoes. 



AGRICULTTJRE. 9 

turnips, peas, beans, and the like, are commonly called 
vegetables, 

Q. What is a root? 

A. All that part of a plant which grows under ground. 

Q. What are some of the roots used for cooking? 
A. Potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots, parsnips. 

Q. AVhat are rootlets? 

A. They are small roots branching off from large ones. 

Q, How do plants gather their food ? 
A. They gather it from the air through their leaves, 
and from the soil through their roots and rootlets. 

Find the meaning of the words — Valuable, devote, 
productive, vegetable, matter, substance, complete. 



CHAPTER III. 

Definitions: Grain; Farms; Measurements. 

Q. What is a cereal ? 

A. It is any edible grain. 

Q. What is grain ? 

A. It is the fruit or seed of certain plants, such as 
wheat, corn, rye, oats, and the like. 

Q. What is wheat? 

A. It is a cereal which furnishes white flour for bread. 

Q. What is corn— commonly called Indian corn ? 
A. It is a grain which" grows on a cob in rows. 

Q. What is rye? 

A. It is a grain resembling wheat, and is also used 
for making bread. 

Q. What is oats? 

A. It is a seed of grass much used for feeding horses. 

Q. What is grass? 

A. It is a plant upon which cattle and other beasts 
feed. 



10 AQUICULTURE. 

Q. What is hay? 

A. It is grass cut and dried for feeding horses, cows, 
and other animals. 

Q. What is a farm ? 

A. It is a piece of ground devoted by its owner to the 
purposes of agriculture. 

Q. How is a farm divided ? 

A. Into a number of divisions called fields. 

Q. What is a small field sometimes called ? 
A. A lot. 

Q. What is a field or lot called when fruit-trees are planted 
in it? 

A. An orchard. 

Q. How is land measured? 

A. By acres and parts of an acre. 

Q. What is an acre of land ? 
A. It is 160 square perches. 

Q. What is a perch ? 

A. It is a line 5^ yards long. 

Q. How may an acre of land be laid out ? 
A. By measuring 69^ yards square. 

Q. How many square yards in one acre of land ? 
A. There are 4840. 

Q. How many square yards in one-half acre of land? 
A. There are 2420. 

Q. How many square yards in one-quarter of an acre? 
A. There are 1210. 

Q. How many square yards in one-eighth of an acre ? 
A. There are 605. 

Observation. — A lot 121 yards long and 40 yards wide 
makes one acre. 

A lot 100 yards long and 48f yards wide makes 1 acre. 

u 3g i^ u 55 u w u ti 

a 9gi u u 5Q it it <t tt 



AGRICULTURE. 11 

The territory of the United States contains about 590,- 
000,000 acres of land, and about 51,000,000 acres of water. 
This territory has been recently enlarged b}^ purchase and 
conquest. 

Find the meaning- of the words — Edible, aci^e, square, 
territory, contain, million, recently, enlarge, purchase, 
conquest. 



CHAPTER lY. 
Definitions: Farm Fertilizers. 

Q. What is the first great requisite to farming? 
A. It is manure. 

Observation. — Scrape up all ihh litter from your door- 
yards, barnyards, and stableyards. Take the rotten 
chips and bark from your w^oodyard ; collect the rich 
soil from holes and corners around your house, the barn, 
the hogpen, the henhouse, and all other out-buildings. 
Go to the roads, the woodlands, and your fence-sides, 
your swamps and ponds. Heap all this up in your barn- 
yard or in some other convenient place; mix it with 
lime and let it decay, so that you may have a large sup- 
ply of this compost on hand at all times. It is good nat- 
ural food for all kinds of plants and roots. Leaves from 
the woods make good bedding for horses, cows, and 
hogs ; and when mixed with the manure of these animals, 
it is a rich and excellent compost. Plaster is better than 
lime to mix with barnyard or stable manure. It holds 
the ammonia better. 

Q. What is the use of lime ? 

A. It performs an important part in agriculture as a 
manure. 

Q. Where is lime often found ? 

A. In all soils capable of sustaining vegetation. 

Q. How is lime made ? 

A. From limestone, by the action of heat. 



12 AGRICULTURE. 

Q. What is limestone ? 

A. It is a rock quarried from the earth. 

Q. From what other substance is lime made? 
A. From oyster-shells. 

Q. What is a limekiln? 

A. It is a furnace in which limestone or shells are 
burnt into lime. 

Q. What kind of soils are most improved by lime? 
A. Those upon which has been a growth of black oak, 
walnut, and poplar trees. 

Q. How much lime should be applied to such lands?- 
A. From fifty to one hundred bushels to the acre. 

Q. If the land is very poor and worn out, how much to the 
acre ? 

A. From thirty to fifty bushels every five years. 

Observation. — A good portion of barnyard manure 
greatly aids the action of lime upon soils, particularly 
clay and sand soils — hence manure from the barnyard 
or compost heap should be freely mingled with lime when 
first applied to the land. As poor land improves, the 
quantity of lime applied to it should be increased. 

Q. In order that a soil may be fertile, what must it contain ? 

A. It must contain all the mineral matter found in the 
ashes of the plant to be grown upon it. It must also 
have its supply of manure or plant food renewed from 
time to time, which it has lost in form of crops. Sup- 
plying waste is prolonging life. 

Q. What is an organ ? 

A. It is a natural part of a living being, as of an ani- 
mal or plant. 

Q. What is organic matter? 

A. It is matter which proceeds from organic bodies, as 
plants and animals. 

Find the meaning of the -Words^^Hotten, collect, con- 
venient, decay, compost, natural, excellent, perform, 
capable, quarry, furnace^ ctpphjf qualify, mineral, 
prolong* 



AGRICULTURE. 13 

CHAPTER Y. 

Definitions: Mineral Fertilizers. 

Q. What is ammonia? 

A. It is gas of a strong odor. 

Q. What is alkali? 

A. It is ammonia which destroys a sour taste. 

Q. How is ammonia formed ? 

A. It is formed by decaying animal and vegetable 
matter, as in manure piles. Its odor can be detected in 
stables. 

Q. Is ammonia a food for plants? 

A. It is ; it finds its way into plants through their 
roots and leaves. 

Q. What is ammonia sometimes called ? 
A. It is called hartshorn. 

Q. What does soil consist of? 

A. It consists of small particles of rock mixed with 
organic matter. 

Q. What is meant by subsoil ? 

A. The bed of earth that lies beneath the surface soil. 

Q. What is meant by alluvium? 

A. It is earth, sand, gravel, and other matter carried 
along by rivers, floods, and other causes. 

Q. What is alluvial soil ? 

A. It is soil composed of alluvium, or deposits of sand, 
clay, or gravel, made by river action. 

Q. AVhat is the action of rain on plants ? 
A. It carries food to them through their roots and 
leaves. 

Q. What is meant })y decomposition ? 

A. A separation of parts, as by decay or death. 

Q. What is meant by disintegration? 
A. A reducing to small particles or powder. 
2 



14 AGRICULTURE. 

Observation. — By the disintegration of rocks material 
for soils is made. By the addition of animal and vege- 
table matter the soil is complete. 

Q. What is meant by atmosphere ? 

A. The air or lluid which surrounds the earth. 

Q. How are the roots of plants attracted ? 
A. Towards their food in the soil. 

Q. How are the leaves of plants attracted? 
A. Towards their food in the atmosphere. 

Q. What is their food in the soil ? 
A. It is organic matter. 

Q. What is their food in the atmosphere? 

A. It is organic matter in the form of gas, or air. 

Find the meaning of the words — Odor, delect, harts- 
horn, material, surround, attract, organic, gas. 



CHAPTER YI. 
Definitions : Tillage ; The Plow and its Uses. 

Q. What is meant by tillao^e ? 

A. The operation, practice, or art of preparing the 
soil for seed, and keeping it in a condition favorable to 
the growth of plants. 

Q. What is a plow? 

A. It is a well known implement of agriculture used 
for turning up the soil. 

Observation. — The plow is the main implement of 
agriculture. It is common to all ages and countries, and 
is almost everywhere the same. It has a beam, handles, 
coulter, and mold-board. The plowshare and coulter cut 
the soil, and the mold-board turns it upside down. The 
plow is drawn by horses hitched to the beam of the plow 
by means of a singletree or whiffletree. 



AGRICULTUPwE. 15 

Q. What is meant by a singletree ? 
A. The crosspiece to which the traces of a horse are 
fixed. 

Q. When two or three horses draw abreast, how are the 
singletrees fixed? 

A. They are fixed upon each end of another cross- 
piece, called a doubletree. The doubletree is attached to 
the end of the beam of the plow by means of a clevis. 

Q. What is meant by sward ? 

A. It is that part of the soil which is filled with the 
roots of grass, forming a kind of mat. 

Q. What is meant by the word stratum ? 

A. It means a bed of earth or rock of any kind. 

Q. What is a layer? 

A. It is a stratum, a body spread over another, as a 
layer of sand, or a layer of clay. 

Q. What is meant by fallow ? 

A. It is land that "has lain a year or more untilled or 
unseeded. 

Q. AVhat is a crop ? 

A. It is the product of what is planted in the earth. 

Observation. — Never work more land than can be well 
worked and well fed. Never keep more cattle than the 
crops of the farm will feed and fatten. Farmers should 
never " overcrop " themselves, that is, plant more than 
they can work well and gather in. 

Take your dictionary and find the meaning of the 
words — Beam, coulter, mold-board, plowshare, clevis, 
turf, sod, 2ind peat. 



CHAPTER TIL 

The Object or Plowing. 

Q. What is the object of plowing? 

A. To break up the soil, and render it permeable to 
the agents of vegetable nutrition and growth, and the 
roots of plants. 



16 AGRICULTUPvE. 

Observation. — Plowing is intended to pulverize the soil, 
to destroy weeds and grass, and to bury the seeds of the 
intended crop. 

Q. "What is the proper depth of plowing ? 
A. This must depend upon the soil. 

Q. What is the effect of shallow plowing? 
A. It has the effect to exhaust the soil in a very fev*' 
years. 

Q. How may poor soils be improved? 
A. By deep plowing. 

Observation. — By plowing the soil sufficiently deep to 
cover all grass, weeds, or stubble, leaving the surface level 
and light, it is fitted for the production of good crops. It 
is well said '' the best plowing is that which completely 
turns the soil and hurries beneath it the entire vegetable 
growth." Heavy grass sods should be turned so as to 
lie flat; light stubble soils may be turned so as to lie edge 
up to a certain degree. ' 

Q. Is there anv danger in turning the greensward furrows 
too flat? 

A. It is thought there is no such danger. 

Q. "What is effected by deep plowing and turning the soil 
flat? 

A. It soon sets to fermenting the mass of vegetable 
matter turned under. 

Q. "What else is effected by deep plowing? 
A. It destroys all noxious weeds. 

Q. "What is a harrow ? 

A. It is an implement made of pieces of wood crossing 
each other, and set with iron teeth. 

Q. "What is the use of a harrow? 

A. It is drawn by horses over plowed land to level 
it and break the clods, and to cover seed when sown. 

Take your dictionary and find the meaning of the 
words — Permeable, agent, niUr^ition, pulverize, suffi- 
ciently, level, production, completely, furrow, effecting, 
fermenting, noxious. 



AGRICULTURE. 17 

CHAPTER Yin. 

Corn : ^Viiex it may be Planted, and how tt 
Originated. 

Q. At which season of the year is it proper to plant corn ? 
A. Between the 1st and lOth of May; not later than 
the 15th day of that month. 

Q. At what time may corn be planted in the tide-water or 
lower counties of Maryland ? 

A. From the 15th to the 20th of April. 

Q. AVhat time may it be planted in the central counties ? 
A. About the 20th of April, in early seasons. 

Q. At what season is it proper to plow sward lands for 
planting corn ? 

A. Late in the fall of the year, and through the winter 
when the frost is out of the ground. 

Q. When should the land be harrowed ? 

A. In the spring, just before the time for planting. 

Q. To M'hat country is the world indebted for the valuable 
plant called corn, or Indian corn? 
A. To our own country, America. 

Q. Has any traveller, prior to the discovery of America, 
noticed the culture of Indian corn in anv other part of the 
world? 

A. There is no such notice on record. 

Q. What is said of corn in the history of the West Indies? 
A. It is said that corn was the only grain found there 
by Europeans. 

Observation. — Corn was described a^^ growing '' upon 
a long reed with large grains, and sometimes tw^o ears on 
a reed, on one of which seven hundred grains were 
counted ; that they sow it grain by grain, and not scat- 
tering. It requires hot and moist soil. The leaves of 
it and also the reed are very good food for cattle ; green 
and dry, it serves as well as straw. The grain is better 
for beasts than barley, and the Indians eat it hot, boiled, 
and sometimes toasted." 

2* B 



18 AGEICULTURE. 

Q. What is said in Robertson's History of America concern- 
ing corn in South America ? 

A. It is said that the chief thing raised there by the 
Indians was ''corn, a grain extremely prolific, of simple 
culture, agreeable to the taste, and affording a strong, 
healthy nourishment." 

Observation. — rWhen the first settlement was made in 
Virginia, in 1607, that country, from the sea-coast to the 
mountains, and between the James and Potomac rivers, 
was occupied by more than forty tribes of Indians, and 
Mr. Jefferson asserts that when Europeans visited these 
Indians, they found them using the Indian corn ; and 
when Lord Baltimore's colony first landed in Maryland, 
in 1634, they settled at an Indian village surrounded by 
fields of corn. 

Take your dictionary and find the meaning of the 
words — Discovery, history, prolific , extremely, nourish- 
ment, occupy, assert. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Corn, continued : Its Indian Origin ; its Uses. 

Q. What did the Leni Lenape Indians of North America 
say of themselves and their corn ? 

A. They called themselves " the original people " and 
their corn " the original grain." 

Observation. — In an account of Lord Baltimore's settle- 
ment of Maryland, published in 1741, the writer says: 
" The infant colony supplied themselves with Indian corn 
at Barbadoes, which, on their first arrival, they began to 
use, to save their English store of meal and oatmeal. 
The Indian women perceiving that the servants of the 
English did not know how to dress it, made their bread 
for them." 



AGRICULTURE. 19 

Q. What is the use of corn? 

A. It is used as food for man and beast. 

Q. What is the use of corn-stalks ? 

A. By an expensive process, sugar is made from them ; 
they are used in barnyard compost, and they are good for 
fuel. 

Q. What are the leaves or blades used for? 
A. They are used as fodder for cattle. 

Q. What do the ashes of the corn-stalk produce? 
A. They produce alkali. 

Q. What are the husJcs used for? 

A. They are used to make bedding and paper for man, 
and food for beasts. 

Observation. — The grain or seed of corn is used for 
making bread, oil, and spirit. Corn ground with its cob 
makes good food to fatten cattle. 

Q. What is the use of the cob ? 
A. It makes good fuel. 

Observation. — The American Indians say, " that on a 
certain occasion the Great Spirit descended to the earth 
in the form of a beautiful squaw ; that where she first 
touched the ground with her feet there the Indian corn 
sprang up ; where she placed her right hand grew the 
bean ; where she put her left hand pumpkins grew ; and 
where she seated herself on the ground grew tobacco." 



CHAPTER X. 

Corn, continued: Its Enemies; Development. 

Q. After the soil has been turned up by the plow and 
harrowed, how is the corn planted ? 

A. The ground is 'Maid off " in furrows made by a 
plow, three and a half or four feet apart. 



20 AGRICULTURE. 

Q. What is next done ? 

A. These furrows are crossed by other furrows the same 
distance apart, and at the place where they cross the seed- 
corn is dropped. 

Q. What is the place where the seed-corn is dropj^ed called ? 
A. A corn-hill. 

Q. How many grains of corn are dropped in a hill ? 
A. Four or five grains, and sometimes more. 

Q. How are these grains covered? 

A. About three or four inches deep, b}^ the action of a 
hand-hoe, or by a machine drawn by a horse, known as 
a coarser. 

Q. If corn land is not plowed in the fall of the year, when 
is the next best time for plowing? 

A. In the spring of the year, as early as possible. 

Q. When the corn sprouts and the young shoot appears 
above the ground, what is to be done ? 

A. Watchthe attacks of insects, especially the cut-worm. 

Q. What is a cut-worm ? 

A. It is a ground worm that eats the young corn- 
sprout. 

Observation. — When the young corn is growing, the 
great object is to prevent weeds and grass from growing 
with it. Frequent stirring up of the soil is necessary to 
keep it mellow and open, that the heat, air, and moisture 
may exert their influence upon the soil. When the 
young plants are from four to six inches high they must 
be thinned out, leaving only two or three in the hill. 
After the young shoots for forming the ears of corn ap- 
pear, the soil should not be disturbed. 

When the corn shoots, that is, begins to form ears on 
the stalk, it also begins to throw out what are called air or 
spur roots near the ground. These roots are thrown out 
first to gather food from the air, and secondly, to lay hold 
in the ground to make the plants steady in case of storm. 

Q. In what time will corn planted in rich soil mature for 
gathering ? 

A. In 100 or 120 days from the time of planting. 



AGRICULTURE. 21 

Q. When it matures, how is it gathered ? 
A. It is cut off near the ground and set up in parcels, 
called shocks. 

Find the meaning of the- words — Farrow, machine, 
prevent, frequent, necessary, influence, mature. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Corn, continued: Fodder; Corn Measurement, and 
History. 

Q, How long should the shocks of corn remain in the field ? 
A. Until they are perfectly dry. 

Observation. — When the ears of the corn, the stalks 
and the blades, called fodder, are perfectly dry, the shocks 
should be thrown down, the corn husked out, and the fod- 
der shocked again, or hauled into the barn or barnyard, 
for feeding cattle in the winter time, 

Q. How is corn bought and sold ? 
A. By the barrel and bushel. 

Q. What is a barrel of corn ? 

A. It is a quantity of ears estimated to make five 
bushels of grain. 

Observation. — For measuring corn, a barrel to hold fiv^e 
bushels of ears is made, and this barrel twice filled is 
called '' a barrel of corn," or five bushels of grain. 

History. — In the year 1639, the legislature of Mary- 
land passed an act relating to measuring corn in a barrel. 
The act provided that all corn bought or sold " before the 
fifteenth of October in any year shall be twice shaken in 
the barrel and afterwards heaped as long as it will lie on ; 
and at or before Christmas it shall be twice shaken and 
filled to the edge of the barrel, and after Christmas it 
shall not be shaken at all, but delivered by strike." 



22 AGRICULTURE. 

The custom established b}^ this old law is still observed 
in the present day, and, such has been our respect for 
this custom established by an early law of Marjiand, 
we have not often departed from this manner of measur- 
ing corn. 

Q. How many pounds of corn make a bushel ? 
A. Fifty-six pounds, 

Q. What is a cubic inch ? 

A. It is a block, for example, one inch square — or one 
inch high, one inch wide, and one inch thick. 

Q. How many cubic inches in a bushel ? 
A. There are 2150+. 

Find the meaning of the words — Remain, perfectly, 
estimate, legislature, custom, establish, observe, cubic, 
example. 



CHAPTER Xir 

Corn, continued: Gsinding to Flour. 

Q. How is corn prepared for bread ? 
A. By grinding and sifting. 

Q. Where is corn ground and sifted ? 
A. In a mill built for the purpose. 

Q. What power drives the mill ? 
A. Water- or steam-power. 

Observation. — In the olden time, mills were driven by 
horse-power and the power of the wind. Where corn 
is ground by water-power, a mill-house is built near a 
stream of water. Above the mill on the stream a dam 
of wood and stone is built across the stream, above which 
a large body of water collects. From this body of water 
a ditch is dug to the mill. This ditch is called a mill-race. 
In this race the water runs from the dam to the wheel 
at the mill, called a water-wheel. Over this water-wheel 



AGRICULTURE. 23 

the water rushes and turns the wheel as it goes, and this 
wheel turns other wheels inside the mill-house. 

Q. What is the first large wheel in the mill-house called? 
A. It is called the master-wheel. 

Q. Does the master-wheel turn any other wheel ? 
A. It does. 

Q. What is that wheel called ? 
A. It is called the counter-wheel. 

Q. Does the counter-wheel turn any other wheel ? 
A. It does. 

Q. What is that wheel called ? 
A. A spindle-wheel. 

Q. Does the spindle-wheel turn something? 
A. It does. It turns a stone called a bur. 

Q. What are mill-burs ? 

A. They are large stones in the form of a circle be- 
tween which corn is ground. 

Q. What is commonly the diameters of burs ? 
A. From three and a half to five feet. 

Observations. — One bur lies flat and motionless on the 
mill floor ; the other is balanced above it on the point of 
the spindle. The spindle is turned by the spindle-wheel 
carrying the upper bur rapidly around with it. This 
rapid motion of the upper bur crushes the corn between 
the two burs. The crushed corn runs from the burs 
down through a spout into a sifter. The sifter is made 
of fine wire, through which the ground corn is shaken, 
and the husks or bran is shaken out at the end of the 
sifter. 

Q. What is that part of the corn shaken through the sifter 
called? 
A. Corn-meal, or corn-flour. 

Q. How is corn-bread made ? 

A. The meal is mixed with lard and water. 

Q. What is the mixture called ? 
A. It is called dough. 



24 AGRICULTURE. 

Q. What is done with the dough ? 

A. It is baked in a stove, range, or oven. 

Q. When baked, what is it called ? 
A. It is called corn-bread. 

Observation — Corn-bread well made is healthy food 
for man. Ears of corn crushed in a mill is excellent food 
to fatten cattle and hogs. Horses, cows, hogs, sheep, 
chickens, ducks, geese, turke3^s, and Guinea fowls, all eat 
corn and fatten on it. Without corn, the meat and poul- 
try we cat would not be good ; for animals and fowls do 
not fatten so well on other food. 

Find the meaning of the words — Ditch, spindle, circle, 
diameter, motionless, meal, Jlour, lard, mixture, dough, 
excellent, poultry. 



CHAPTER XII L 

ConX; contint^ed: Corn-tassel; Selection for Seed; 
Price per Bushel; Hominy. 

Q. What is meant ])y corn-silk ? 

A. It is the female flower of the corn, 

Q. What is corn-tassel? 

A. It is the male flower of the corn. 

Q. What did the j^oet Longfellow say about corn? 
A. He said — 

"And the cornfield grew and ripened, 
Till it stood in all the S[)lendor 
Of its garments green and yellow 
Of its tassels and its j)lumage." 

Observation. — In selecting corn for seed, select the 
largest ears on the stalk. Husk them, and make a re- 
selection from the cars, taking only those which appear 
sound and ripe. This must be done in the fall, and in 
the field. In the spring select again, and in shelling the 
corn throw out the small and badly shaped grains at each 



AGRICULTURE, 25 

end of the ear. The grains in the middle of the ear are 
the best seed. 

Q. How many rows of grains are generally on an ear of 
corn? 

A. From eight to twenty-four. 

Observation. — The rows of grains on a cob or spike of 
corn are ahvays even. An odd number of rows is un- 
known in the history of corn. It has been held that corn 
is the least impoverishing to land of all crops, for it 
returns more plant-food to the earth than any other, and 
the quality of the food returned to the earth is more 
nourishing to plants than the food from any other vege- 
table. 

Q. AVhat is the highest product of corn in the United 
States? 
A. Twenty barrels, or one hundred bushels to the acre. 

Q. How many barrels of corn to the acre are generally pro- 
duced by land well manured and cultivated? 

A. Ten barrels, or fifty bushels ; and this number, by 
superior cultivation, is now often exceeded. 

Q. What is generally the price of corn per bushel ? 
A. From 80 cents to $1.25 per bushel. 

Q. Where is corn generally sold ? 

A. In all the cities of the United States, and it is 
shipped to nearly all the large cities of Europe. 

Q. How is it often treated before shipping? 
A. It is kiln-dried, to prevent heat and germination in 
the ship. 

Observation. — Large quantities of corn arc shipped 
from Baltimore to England and Ireland, as well as to 
other European countries. 

Q. AVhat is hominy? 

A. It is corn which has been hulled. 

Q. How is corn hulled for hominy ? 
A. It is hulled by beating in a vessel called a hominy- 
mortar. 
.3 



AGRICULTURE. 



Observation. — Hominy is extensively manufactured 
this time in mills constructed for the purpose. It is 
healthy and nourishing food. 



CnAPTER XIY. 

Wheat: Where Grown; Clover. 

Q. In what country was wheat first grown ? 
A. In Syria. 

Q, In what other countries was it next grown? 
A. In Egypt, Greece, and Italy. 

Q. What did the poet Homer say of wheat in Egypt? 
A. He said — 

"The soil untilled a ready harvest yields, 
With wheat and barley wave the golden fields." 

Q. What does the historian Pliny say of wheat in Africa 
A. He says, " Nature has gifted w^heat with wond( 

ful fruitfulness, because it was intended to be the pri 

cipal nourishment of mankind." 

Observation. — Wheat in Africa has been known to pi 
duce 400 straw^s from one grain planted in the soil of th 
country. In Egypt, when the land is enriched by t 
overflowing of the river Nile, wheat has borne 100 grai 
in one head. It derives advantages from frost, as it 
well known that the harvest is generally more abunda 
after a severe winter. It is observed that wheat whi 
has passed the winter beneath the snow, yields the fine 
and most abundant harvest. 

Q. What soils are best suited to the growth of wheat? 
A. Stiff or clayey soils ; but it is generally cultivat 
on all classes of soils. 

Observation. — Soils of the lighter class are not the be 
suited to wheat; they arc better for corn and gard 



AGRICULTURE. 27 

vegetables. Rich, heavy loams, and stiff clays with a pro- 
per portion of sand, always produce the heaviest w^heat. 

Q. How should land be prepared for wheat ? 
A. First carefully plow it. 

Q. What second? 

A. Carefully harrow it. 

Observation. — Land intended for wheat should be put 
in the best condition with respect to cleanliness and fer- 
tility. As it receives no farther culture after it is sown, 
the soil intended for its growth should be brought in as 
fine a condition as possible. 

Q. Can soil be too rich for the proper growth of wheat? 
A. It can be. Land highly manured is apt to produce 
too rapid a grow^th of straw, and but little grain. 

Q. What is an established law respecting the growth of 
plants ? 

A. That an extraordinary growth of the stem and 
leaves is always at the expense of the fruit or seed. 

Observation. — As it is during the heat of summer that 
wheat matures its seed, it is more liable on this account 
to suffer from a too vigorous growth of straw than other 
plants that ripen later. 

Q. AVhat crop should wheat follow ? 
A. A crop of clover. 

Q. At what time should clover be turned under by the 
l>low? 

A. In August and the early part of September. 

Observation. — Years of practice have confirmed the 
opinion that clover is the best preparative of the ground 
for wheat. 

Find the meaning of the words — Derive, abundant, 
condition, fertility, establish, extraordinary, vigorous, 
preparative, opinion. 



28 AGRICULTURE. 

CHAPTER XY. 

Wheat, continued : Plowing ; Sowing ; Harvesting. 

Q. What should be strictly observed in plowing the land 
for wheat? 

A. See that the sward is inrned flat, and all the vege- 
table matter turned under or buried. 

Q. When should the wheat be sown ? 

A. In ten or fifteen days after the plowing. 

Q. Why so? 

A. Because the plowed soil, in this time, will be set- 
tled, and decomposition of the sward commenced. 

Observation. — Some farmers contend that the operations 
of plowing, harrowing, and sowing should immediately 
follow each other ; but this is not generally approved. 

Q. What has an eminent English farmer said on this sub- 
ject? 

A. He said the best way of sowing clover lands with 
wheat, is to plow the land ten or fifteen days before you 
sow it, that it may have time to get dry, and after rain 
to make it dress well. 

Q. What do other distinguished farmers say ? 

A. They say, " plow the land at least a month before 
the time of seeding, that time may be allowed for the 
soil to settle." 

Observation. — Good crops of wheat are raised in stiff 
soils, after crops of corn, oats, tobacco, peas, beans, etc. 
Seed wheat should be selected from the earliest and most 
perfect crop of the preceding year. When v.'heat lands 
are rough on account of hard clods of earth they should 
be rolled by a heavy roller, and harrowed before seeding. 

Q. How is vdieat sown ? 

A. Broadcast by hand, or in drills by a machine. 

Q. When should v/heat be sown? 

A. In time for its roots to take deep hold on the ground 
before frost sets in. 



AGRICULTURE. 29 

Q. What time is generally named ? 
A. From the middle of September till the first of 
November. 

Observation. — Wheat soAvn early throws out a greater 
number of branches from one g-rain than that which is 
sown late. 

Q. How many bushels of wheat to the acre ought to be 
sown ? 

A. From two to two and one-half bushels, broadcast, 
and one bushel and a half if drilled. 

Q. When is wheat harvested? 

A. From about the 25th of June to the 10th of July. 

Observation. — On the eastern shore of Maryland, it 
ripens earlier than on the western shore. 

Q. How is wheat harvested? 

A. It is cut off when ripe close to the ground, and 
bound up in sheaves by a machine drawn by horses. 

Q. How is the grain separated from the straw and chaff? 
A. By a machine moved by horse- or steam-power. 

Q. When separated from the straw and chaff, what is done 
with the grain? 

A. It is put in bags or sacks, about two and one-half 
bushels in each one. 

Q. Is it then ready to be manufactured into flour? 
A. It is. 

Q. Where is this done ? 

A. In a mill called a merchant-mill. 

Q. How is it ground ? 

A. Between two stones called burs, as described for 
grinding corn. 

Q. How is a merchant-mill driven ? 
A. Generally by water-power in the country, and by 
steam-power in a city. 

Find the meaning of the words — Contend, eminent, 
distinguished, select, machine, separate, manufacture, 
merchant, describe. 
3* 



30 AGRICULTURE. 

CHAPTER XYI. 
Wheat, continued: Elevators; Bolting; Malt. 

Q. "When wheat is ground or crushed between the burs, 
where is it carried ? 

A. It is carried down through a spout to a chest or 
box below the burs. 

Q. AVhatnext? 

A. It is dipped up by tin boxes and carried up a spout 
to the second or third story of the mill. 

Q, What are these tin boxes called? 
A. They arc called elevators. 

Observation. — These elevators are so arranged as to 
come down the spout empty, pass through the chest, 
dipping themselves full of ground wheat, and pass up 
another spout, emptying their contents into a place called 
a hopper-boy. The ground wheat, heated by the rapid 
motion of the burs in grinding, is spread out on a floor 
of the mill to cool. When cool, the hopper-boy carries 
the ground wheat to a spout, down which it lalls into 
another machine called a holt. This machine bolts the 
ground grain, or, in other words, separates the hull of the 
wheat or bran, as it is called, from the flour. 

Q. AVhat is the fine cloth through which the flour is sifted 
called? 

A. Bolting-cloth. 

Q. When and by whom was the hopper-boy invented? 
A. About the year 1786, by Oliver Evans, of Delaware. 

Q. After bolting, what is done with the flour? 

A. It is put in barrels made of wood, 196 pounds in a 
barrel, or in small bags, one-eighth of a barrel, or 24j 
pounds in a bag. 

Q. Whatisma7/? 

A. It is grain steeped in water till it germinates, or 
sprouts, and then dried in a kiln. 



AGRICULTURE. 31 

Q. What is yeast ? 

A. It is the foam or froth of beer or other liquor in 
fermentation. 

Q. What is malt yeast? 

A. It is the foam of malt used for raising dough for 
bread, making it light or puffy. 

Q. How is wheat bread made ? 

A. The wheat flour is put in a pan mixed up with 
malt, or another kind of yeast, and water, — this is called 
dough. 

Q. What is done next with the dough ? 
A. It is put in a warm place until it ferments, or rises, 
by the action of the yeast. 

Q. What is done when the dough rises? 

A. It is baked in a range or oven, and when baked, it 
is called bread, the food of mankind, and often called "the 
staff of life." To get bread implies sufficient food for 
the support of man without luxury. So you see the 
great importance of the grain called wheat, the art of 
grinding it into flour, and making it into bread. 

Find the meaning of the words — Elevator, rapid, holt, 
hull, bran, fermentation, imply. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

Rotation of Crops: Tobacco. 

Q. What is meant by rotation of crops ? 
A. It is a frequent change, on the same land, from one 
crop to another. 

Observation. — For instance, plant your land one year 
in corn; the next, wheat ; the third, clover ; or, first three 
years, grass ; fourth year, wheat; fifth year, corn, and so on. 

Q. What is to be observed in relation to rotation of crops ? 
A. Crops that require the same kind of soil-food, 



32 AGRICULTUrvE. 

should not follow each other, nor those that are similar in 
their mode of growth. 

Q. What does rotation in crops do in respect to plants? 
A. It enables one plant to prepare food for another. 

Observation. — One crop continued on the same ground 
for many years, consumes the plant-food of a particular 
kind faster than it can be supplied by natural or artificial 
agencies. 

Q. What kind of soil produces the best tobacco? 
A. The soil of woodland, called new ground. 

Q. When may woodland be cleared for tobacco ? 

A. In winter time, when little else can be done on the 
farm. 

Q. How is tobacco raised? 

A. From the seeds, the smallest and tcnderest of all 
seeds handled by the farmer. 

Q. When ought tobacco seed be sown ? 
A. In the month of February. 

Q. Where should they be sown? 

A. In fresh woodland soil, known as a tobacco-bed. 

Q. How is a tobacco-bed prepared for the seed ? 
A. By burning a large quantity of waste- wood, brush, 
and leaves on the ground chosen for the purpose. 

Observation. — Select a piece of rich woodland soil, say 
fifty feet square, cut down all the wood and undergrowth 
found upon it, raking ofl", at the same time, all the leaves 
and litter of every kind, so as to expose the clean surface 
of the soil. Then gather waste-w^ood, brush, and leaves, 
and cover the ground well, so that fire, consuming the 
wood, will produce a heat sufficient to kill all roots and 
wild seeds in the soil. Set all this combustible matter 
which yon have placed on the tobacco-bed on fire, and if, 
at any place, the fire is dull, throw on more brush, etc., 
that the whole bed may be well heated. Wait for all 
the fire to go out, and then spade or dig the ground to a 
depth of five inches, mixing w^ell the wood ashes with the 
soil. Then rake the soil well, until it is w^ell pulverized. 



AGRICULTURE. 33 

Mix the tobacco seed with dry ashes or fine sand, and sow 
sparingly two or three ways over the ground, so that the 
seed may fall regularly upon it. Then roll (not rake) or 
tramp the ground under foot, so as to make a smooth, 
hard surface. The germ of the tobacco seed is so small 
and tender, that if buried too deep it cannot ''come up." 
After the seed is sown, cover the bed again with brush 
and leaves to prevent it from freezing. When the spring 
is fairly open, remove the covering from the bed, rake 
off all litter, and expose the surface of the bed to the 
sun. The seeds will soon " come up," and plants will be 
ready for transplanting about the first of July, or some- 
time before, in the tide-water counties of Maryland and 
Virginia. 

Q. How is land prepared for tobacco ? 

A. It is plowedand harrowed, then " scraped" into hills, 
or generally at this time, after opening a furrow for the 
fertilizer, the soil is thrown into ridges by the plow 
passing up one side of the open furrow and down the 
other, forming a ridge of light soil directly oVer the man- 
ure or fertilizer. 

Q. What is meant by " scraping tobacco hills " ? 
A. It means scraping up the soil with a hoe into little 
hills about three or four inches apart. 

Find the meaning of the words — Rotation, frequent, 
instance, relation, observe, require, mode, similar, en- 
able, respect, artificial, agency, litter, combustible, pul- 
verize, prevent, transplant. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

TOCACCO, CONTINUED ; TREATMENT. 

Q. How are tobacco hills scraped ^\'ith respect to height 
and distance apart? 

A. They are scraped in rows about two or two and 
C 



34 AGRICULTURE. 

one-half feet apart, three or four inches high, and flattened 
off on the top to make a smooth place for the plant. 

Q. When is the tobacco plant transplanted ? 
A. As soon as the plants raised in the tobacco-bed are 
large enough to be handled. 

Q, How is the plant planted in the hill ? 

A. Its roots are placed in a small hole, made soon after 
a rain, on the top of the soil or ridge, and the soil pressed 
around them. 

Observation. — If the plant is well set in the hill, it will 
soon grow vigorously. As it grows, all weeds and grass 
must be kept down, so that the whole surface of the 
ground may be clean. 

Q. When is tobacco cut down and housed ? 

A. In the fall of the year, before frost comes. 

Q. Wliv so? 

A. If the plant is " nipped " by the frost it is worthless, 
and has no commercial value. 

Observation. — Tobacco, like corn, requires almost con- 
stant attention when growing. It is subject to the attack 
of worms, hatched on the plant from the eggs deposited 
there by an insect known among farmers as the "horn- 
blower." One of these worms when full grown can 
eat a whole plant of tobacco in twenty-four hours, and 
they at times become so numerous as to threaten the 
whole crop of tobacco with destruction. 

Q. When tobacco is first cut in the fall, how is it treated? 

A. It is placed on the ground in small heaps called 
*' sun-heaps," if the weather is warm ; if cool, they are 
called "frost-heaps." 

Q. How long ought green tobacco lie in these heaps? 
A. About twenty-four hours, to wilt or wither. 

Q. Why wither? 

A. When first cut, the plant is too brittle for the rough 
handling in housing. 

Observation. — From twenty to fifty plants make a heap. 



AGRICULTUTwE. 35 

If the plant, after cutting, gets sun-burnt, it is spoiled ; 
but it takes a hard frost to spoil it after it is withered in 
the frost-heap. Nothing short of a freeze will injure it. 
The plant is taken from the heaps and hung up in the to- 
bacco barn t?o cure or dry. Sometimes fire is used to 
hasten the curing. When cured, it is, on damp, rainy, 
days during winter, taken down, the leaves stripped off, 
the stalk tied up in bundles and " bulked," or heaped up on 
the barn-floor. In this bulk the tobacco leaves acquire a 
sweet and pleasant flavor. It must be taken down, how- 
ever, and rebulked occasionally, for fear it might ferment. 
In the spring, when perfectly cured, it is packed in hogs- 
heads for market. 

Q, What is meant by staple ? 

A. The principal commodity or production of a coun- 
try. 

Q. What was the original staple of Maryland ? 
A. Tobacco. It was also a currency, passing from 
hand to hand like money. 

Observation. — Tobacco is prepared in manufactories for 
chewing, smoking, and snuffing. It is smoked in pipes 
made of clay, and in small rolls called cigars and cigarettes. 

Find the meaning of the words — Vigorously, com* 
mercial, destruction, heap, injure, acquire, Jlavor, orig* 
inal, currency. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
Rye: Ergot. 

Q. Of what country is rye a native ? 

A. It is said to be a native of the island of Crete. 

Q. Where is rye extensively grown? 

A. In most parts of the continent of Europe. 

Q. Of what countries is it principally the bread grain ? 
A. Of the countries in the north of Europe. 



36 AGRICULTURE. 

Observation. — "With respect to the mode of culture, rye 
resembles wheat, llye requires a rich soil. It ripens 
earlier than wheat, and both its green and dry straw are 
extensively used for feeding horses and cattle, and par- 
ticularly for feeding milch-cows in the spring, before the 
other grass is high enough to be cut or pastured. This 
is called soiling, a most important part of farm economy. 
Rye stands dry weather better than wheat ; but is more 
apt than wheat to suffer from wet. It is a hardier plant 
than wheat, and less subject to disease. Rye grows 
much higher than wheat, and its grain is distilled into 
spirit. When this grain is intended for bread, it should 
be harvested early, even before the milk has departed 
from the grain. 

Q. AVhat is ergot ? 
A. It is diseased rye. 

Q. What is this diseased rye generally called ? 

A. It is called spurred rye, blasted rye, and poison rye. 

Observation. — Some grains in the rye-head become dis- 
eased, and grow out, looking like the spurs of a chicken, 
only, unlike the color of the chicken's spurs, it is black. 
Rye, with those blasted grains in it, is poisonous in bread 
and spirit. It is sometimes called " horned ryey 

Q. For what other purposes is rye-straw used ? 
A. For the beds of horses, the thatching of roofs, and 
making hats. 

Q. What did Shakespeare say about straw hats ? 
A. 

" You sunburnt slcklemen of August weary, 
(,'ome hither from tlie furrow, and be nierry ; 
Make holy-day ; your rye-straw hats put on." 

Find the meaning of the words — Cattle, milch, im- 
ported, economy, principally, resemble, extensively, dis- 
ease, distil. 



AGrvICULTURE. 6i 

CHAPTEK XX. 

Oats. 

Q. Of what place is oats supposed to be a native ? 
A, Of the island of Juan Fernandez. 

Q. From what grain is it supposed that oats sprang ? 
A. From barley. 

Q. What has an English poet said on this subject? 
A. He said — 

"Who soweth his barley to? soon or in rain, 
Of oats and of thistles shall after complain." 

Q. What did Yirgil say of oats ? 
A. He said — 

"Flax, oats, and poppies burn the tender soil, 
Yet sown by turns, they recompense your toil." 

Observation. — Pliny notices the cultivation of oats in 
Italy. Oats, as food for horses, was known in Rome as 
early as the Christian era. 

Q. How is the ground prepared for oats ? 
A. Plow and harrow it, as for corn. 

Q. At what time of the year? 

A. As early in the spring* as possible, say the latter 
part of March or first of April. 

Q. How many bushels to the acre should be sown? 
A. From one and a half to two and a half bushels. 
Sow broadcast, or in drills, like wheat. 

Observation. — Oats is a nourishing food for horses and 
for mankind. A poet says — 

"Oats for their feast the Scottish shepherds grind." 

A diet drink of oats was used in the olden time, and the 
inventor of this drink kept himself alive by it to the age 
of 120 years without disease. Oats as food for man is 
now extensively used in this country as a healthful article 
4 



38 AGRICULTURE. i 

of diet. This diet is found in hotels and in many private 
families as the first course at the breakfast table. 

Q. What has an English physician said of oats? 
A. ** A famous remedy for acute distempers is made 
of oatmeal boiled in water." 

Q. What is the use of the chaff of oats? 
A. It is good to pack dried meat in for shipping to 
warm climates. 

Observation. — Oat straw is good for feeding cows, and 
they eat it with pleasure and avidity ; but it is not so 
good for horses. 

Find the meaning of the words — Subject, recorapense, 
thistle, era, inventor, famous, remedy, climate, avidity. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Potatoes. 

Q. What are potatoes ? 

A. It is said *' they are the rich man's luxury and the 
poor man's bread." 

Q. Of what country is the potato a native? 
A. Of South America. 

Observation. — In the year 1G93, potatoes were sent 
into Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh. He planted them in 
his garden, and thinking the " potato-apple " on the tops 
was all the fruit they bore, he ordered them to be dug up 
as worthless. The digging exposed firm potatoes in 
great abundance, and Falstaff is made to say, " Let it rain 
potatoes." 

Q. What did Lord Bacon say of potatoes ? 

A. He said, "Put potato roots in a pot with earth; 
set the pot in the ground, and a new variety of roots will 
grow." 



AGRICULTURE. 89 

Q. How are new varieties of the potato generally produced ? 
A. From the seed-balls on the vines. 

Observation. — New varieties have been produced from 
the roots. In Van Dieman's Land a half bushel of roots 
was planted, and when digging-time came, five new va- 
rieties were dug up, viz., the white champion, the round 
red, the kidney, the long red, and the miller's thumb. 

Q. When should the land for planting potatoes in the 
spring be plowed ? 

A. Early in the preceding autumn. 

Q. How should they be planted? 

A. Either in hills or drills, twenty-five inches apart. 

Observation. — Lay off the ground in furrows twenty- 
five or thirty inches apart, and about four inches deep. 
Drill the potatoes in the furrow, each piece of seed po- 
tato from seven to thirteen inches apart. Throw in stable 
manure or commercial fertilizer, not less than 500 lbs. to 
the acre, and cover all about three inches deep. 

When planted in hills let the furrow be crossed, and 
plant at the crossing, as in the case of corn. Covering 
may be done with the hoe or plow. 

Q. When should potatoes be planted ? 
A. As early in the spring as possible. 

Q. What is the time for late planting ? 

A. From the middle of June to the middle of July. 

Q. How should they be worked ? 

A. Plow between the hills or drills, deep and often. 
Let no weeds grow. 

Q. What does the poet Gay say of potatoes? 
A. He says — 

"Leek to the Welsh, to Dutchmen butter's dear; 
Of Irish swains potato is the cheer." 

Observation. — The sweet potato is extensively raised 
in the States on the south Atlantic. These have been 
planted much like common potatoes. Break up the 
ground in the fall ; harrow it well in the spring ; then 
with a bar-share plow throw three furrows together. To 



40 AGEICULTUKE. 

complete the ridge, take a hoe or fme rake and draw the 
dirt up first from one side then the other, to about the 
height potato hills are made. Open a furrow on the top 
of the ridge, and drop the potato cuts five or six inches 
apart, and cover two inches deep. Let these ridges be 
made thirty inches apart. 

It is best to sprout the roots in a hot bed, and when 
the sprouts are large enough, draw and plant like 
cabbage. 

About 100 years ago, an English gentleman advertised 
for a cook, and used the words, "None need apply vvho 
cannot cook a potato well." 

Find the meaning of the words — Luxury, abundancs, 
variety, iwecedwg, autumn, comj^Iete. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Cabbage. 

Q. What is cabbage ? 

A. It is an ancient and well-known garden vegetable. 

Q. By whom was cabbage held in great esteem? 
A. The Greeks. 

Q. What did the ancient Romans think of cabbage? 

A. It is said that, having expelled physicians from 
their country, they preserved their health for six hundred 
years by using cabbage as their only medicine in every 
disease. 

Q. What did Columella say of cabbage? 
A. He said — 

"That herb which o'er the whole terrestrial globe 
Both flourish, and in great abundance yields, 
To low plebeian and haughty king, 
In winter, cabbage, and green sprouts in spring." 

Q. What kind of soil is adapted to cabbage ? 

A. Any very rich soil, but a strong loam is preferable. 



AGRICULTURE. 41 

Observation. — The preparation of land for cabbage is 
similar to that for potatoes. 

Q. How is the ground prepared for raising the plants ? 
A. It is well to prepare it as in the case of tobacco. 

Q. When should the seed be sown ? 
A. Early in April. 

Q. AVhen ought the plant to be transplanted ? 
A. After a rain, from the first of April to the first of 
July. 

Observation. — Lay ofr the ground, and plant in ridges 
or hills from two to two and one-half feet apart. Work 
the ground well while the plant is growing, with hoe or 
plow, and keep down all grass and weeds. 

Bacon and cabbage boiled together make a strong and 
healthy food for man. Cabbage is made into krout for 
winter use, and when boiled with pork the food is 
lighter and healthier than bacon and cabbage, the strong- 
food of the laboring man. . 

Find the meaning of the words — Expel, ancient, phy- 
sician, preserve, terrestrial, flourish, yield, adapt, pref- 
erable, krout, bacon. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Carrot: A Useful Food for Consumptives. 

Q. Where was the carrot first found ? 
A. A very old writer says it was first found on the 
mountains of Germany. 

Q. When were carrots introduced into England ? 
A. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 

Q. What does Dr. James say of carrots ? 
A. He says, " they strengthen and fatten the eater, and 
are a very proper food for consumptive persons." 
4* 



42 AGEICULTUKE. 

Q. AVhat soil is best suited to carrots ? 
A. A rich sand, a sandy loam, a dry warm loam, or 
rich gravelly loam. 

Q. How should the ground be plowed ? 
A. As deep as possible. 

Observation. — The ground should be well plowed and 
pulverized, and all weeds, stones, and other obstructions 
removed. 

Q. When should the ground be plowed ? 
A. In the fall of the year. 

Q. When should manure be applied ? 
A. At the time of plowing. 

Q. If commercial fertilizer is used, when should it be ap- 
plied ? 

A. At the time of sowing the seeds. 

Q. When should the seeds be sown ? 
A. In early spring, as soon as the ground can be put 
in order. 

Q. How is the land prepared for carrots ? 
A. Form it into ridges, and sow the seed upon the top 
of them. 

Observation. — The seed may also be sown in rows. In 
this case the ground must be worked deep and well man- 
ured. After-cultivation consists in hoeing and weeding 
with the horse and hand hoe. The carrot is very nutri- 
tious as food for man and beast. It fattens animals and 
is excellent for milch-cows. 

Q. What quantity of carrots to the acre may be raised ? 
A. As many as from 500 to 1000 bushels. 

Q. What is the average crop from careful tillage ? 
A. From five to eight hundred bushels. 

Q. How man\^ pounds of carrot seed will seed an acre of 
land? 

A. About four pounds. 

Observation. — An English writer says, '' Carrots are 



AGRICULTURE. 43 

generally served at table with boiled meats ; they make 
an excellent soup and an agreeable pudding." 

Q. What are the seeds of the wild carrot used for ? 
A. A tea made of the seeds is used for diseases of 
the breast and lungs, and in cases of stone and gravel. 

Find the meaning of the words — Introduce, consump- 
tive, obstruction, nutritious, relish. 



CHAPTErv XXI Y. 

The Parsnip: "It is Nerve and Brain Food." 

Q. Whence came the parsnip ? 

A. It w'as first found in Germany. 

Q. What is said of it? 
A. It loves cold regions. 

Q. What is said of the parsnip as a medicine ? 
A. " It restores vitality to the eater. It is nerve 
and brain food." 

Q. What soil is best suited to the parsnip ? 
A. A deep, rich, and sandy loam. 

Q. How is the land prepared for the parsnip ? 
A. It is plowed in the fall that it may be pulverized by 
the frosts of winter. 

Q. How is it prepared for seeding ? 

A. It is prepared in rows, as in case of the carrot. 

Observation. — All animals are fond of parsnips. For 
milch-cows they are in high degree favorable, giving a 
good flavor and richness to their milk. It may be culti- 
vated in ridges or drills like the carrot. The distance 
between the drills should be no wider than will admit the 
cultivator, and the plants in the rows should stand from 
eight to ten inches apart. This root is not good for the 
table until it has been touched by the frosts of winter. 
In this climate it is thought best to sow parsnip seed 



44 AGRICULTURE. 

in the fall, about November, that they may escape the 
drought of April and May, which often comes in this lati- 
tude. Some gardeners recommend the sowing of a few 
radish seeds with the parsnip seed to assist it in breaking 
the crust of the earth when "coming up." The parsnip 
is nutritious on account of the large amount of sugar it 
contains. 

Find the meaning of the words — liegions, admit, 
escape, drouth or di^ought, latitude. 



CHAPTER XXY. 

The Onion: How Used in Ancient Times. 

Q. Of what country is the onion a native? 
A. Of Asia. 

Q. Where do the best onions grow ? 
A. In Egypt. 

Observation. — The onion was one of the divinities of 
Egypt. The ancient people of that country swore by 
the onion, solemnly calling it to witness their oaths. 

Q. What did the ancient Romans think of onions? 
A. They said they were wholesome, strengthening, 
good to cleanse the stomach, and beautify the complexion. 

Q. What soil is best suited to the prrowth of onions? 
A. A mellow, dry soil, and the cleaner and richer the 
better. 

Q. When should the soil be plowed? 
A. Late in the fall of the year. 

Observation. — In April, or as soon as the soil is dry 
enough to pulverize well, lay it off in rows a foot apart, 
and, after fertilizing well, place the onion sets in the row, 
and cover them shallow, with hand or hoe. Planting 
onions in the fall is highly recommended in this climate. 



AGKICULTUPwE. 45 

Q. How are onion sets raised? 

A. Sow the onion seeds in drills made in very rich soil, 
work the ground well, keeping down all weeds and 
grass. As soon as the tops of the young onions die, take 
up the roots and keep them for planting in the next fall or 
spring-time. This crop is valuable, and pays the farmer 
well for his trouble. 

Observation. — Many persons shun onions on account 
of the strong smell they impart to the breath. This may 
be remedied by eating icalnuts or a few parsley leaves 
immediately after the onions. 

Find the meaning of the words — Divinities, solemnly, 
beautify, complexion, mellow, shallow, vahiablc, reme- 
died, immediately. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

The Turnip : Its Medicinal PRorEiiTiES. 

Observation. — The native country and the origin of the 
English name of this vegetable are unknown. Under 
the careful management of the farmer, however, it not 
only affords food for man, but becomes a valuable crop 
to the farmer by affording him winter food for his cattle. 

Q. What is the use of the leaves of turnips? 
A. The leaves serve as food for cattle in autumn ; in 
winter the roots are good food for man and beast. 

Q. AVhat is an average crop of turnips to an acre of land? 
A. About six hundred bushels. 

(>. What is the time for sowinp- turnips? 
A. The time for sov/ing varies according to climate, 
season, and circumstances. 

Q. What is the usual time ? 

A. From the middle to the last of July ; some sow as 
late as the 10th of August. Ruta-baga early in June. 



46 AOKICULTUEE. 

Q. How is the ground prepared for turnips ? 
A. Plow it deep immediately after grain harvest ; 
when seeding-time comes, harrow it well. 

Observation. — Gather all the weeds and grass collected 
by the harrow, that no litter be left on the ground. 

Q. What quantity of seed is sown to the acre? 
A. A quart of seed is sufficient. 

Q. How are tliej- sown ? 

A. Either broadcast by hand, or in drills by a machine. 

Q. How does this machine work ? 

A. It lays out the land in drills, drops the seed in the 
earth, covers, and rolls them down. 

Q. What produces the largest roots? 
A. Rich soil and early sowing. 

Q. What are the medicinal qualities of turnips? 

A. They were used by the ancients to restore frozen 
feet, being first boiled in water and then applied as a 
fomentation. 

Find the meaning of the words — Origin, afford, 
average, climate, season, circumstances, fomentation. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

The Bean : Wuolesome Food for Man and Beast. 

. Q. W^hat is said of the bean ? 

A. It is a field and garden plant, afTording food for 
men and animals. 

Q. What soil is preferable for beans? 
A. Light, sandy soil. 

Q. How are beans planted? 
A. In hills or drills. 

Observation. — The bean known as the Lima bean is, 
perhaps, the most valuable of all beans. It is good green 
or dry, affording a desirable and wholesome food for man. 



AGRICULTURE. 47 

Q. How is this bean generally planted ? 

A. In hills, in a very rich soil. Poles ten or twelve 
feet high must be planted in the ground for the bean- 
vines to run on. 

Observation. — There are many varieties of the field 
and garden bean. They are often sown in drills or broad- 
cast in the field. All require a rich and light soil. Forty 
or fifty bushels to the acre of land may be harvested, 
and they generally sell for about a dollar a bushel. 

Q. What did the ancients say of beans? 

A. Virgil said, " If beans be soaked in dregs of oil and 
nitre before being planted, they will produce beans of a 
far greater size." 

Q. What was said of the meal or flour of beans? 

A. The Romans said it was a celebrated cosmetic for 
the ladies, smoothing the skin and taking all wrinkles 
away. 

Q. What is said of green beans ? 

A. They are, when boiled with bacon, an elegant food 
for man, because they purify and enrich the blood. Pork 
and beans is a favorite dish in New England. 

Find the meaning of the words — Dregs, nitre, cos- 
metic, purify, enrich. 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 

The Pea: Good for Scorbutic Humors. 

Q. Of what countries is the pea a native ? 
A. Of France and Italy. 

Q. What is said of the pea ? 

A. It is very extensively cultivated for use in the 
green state. 

Q. How is land prepared for the pea? 
A. Plow it in the fall, that it may be pulverized by 
the rains and frosts of winter. . 



48 AGHICULTUPvE. 

Q. What kind of soil should be chosen ? 
A. A loose, warm soil, moderately rich. 

Q, How are peas planted? 
A. In drills. 

Observation. — After the land is prepared by the liberal 
use of the harrow, lay off the crround in drills from two 
and a half to four feet apart. Distribute the peas in the 
drill as near to each other as the judgment of the farmer 
may dictate. 

Q. V/hat quantity fsf peas is seeded to an acre of ^i-ound? 
A. From a bushel and a half to two bushels. 

Q. When should peas be planted ? 

A. As early as possible after the frost is out of the 
ground, in spring. 

Observation.-— Tbis crop is ver^^ profitable to the planter. 
Feas are used as an early vegetable for the table, and 
they are dried for shipping to other countries, as well as 
extensively packed in tin cans for winter use. 

Q. AVhat is said of the medicinal properties of peas? 
A. " They sweeten the blood, and correct gcorbutic 
humors." 

Q. How are peas pre^iared for packing in cans for winter 
use ? 

A. They arc picked from the vine in the field by girls 
and boys, and shelled in packing-houses. Persons old 
and young of both sexes are the shellers, and sometimes 
whole families, consisting of father, mother, and children. 
They begin work at four o'clock in the morning, and con- 
tinue until six in the evening, stopping at their conven- 
ience for dinner. For this work they are paid five cents 
a pot, which holds two quarts and a pint of shelled peas. 
Payment is made as soon as the peas are measured. 
Good shellers can earn from one to two dollars per day ; 
little girls and boys, from tvrenty-five to fifty cents per 
day. 

Find the meaning of the words — Liberal, distinhute, 
dictate, scorbutic. 



AGRICULTURE. 49 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Lettuce: A Promoter of Sleep. 

Q. At what time was lettuce first served at tables? 
A. About five hundred and fifty years before the Chris- 
tian era. 

Q. How was it served ? 
A. In its natural state. 

Q. AVhere was it thus first served ? 

A. At the royal tables of the Persian kings. 

Q. AVhat does Pliny say of lettuce ? 
A. He says, '* black lettuce yielding a great quantity 
of milky juice causing sleep "was known to the Romans, 

Observation.—- It is said that the Romans, being con- 
vinced of certain medicinal properties which this plant 
possessed, devised means to grow it at all seasons of tho 
year. 

Q. AVhat did Columella write about lettuce ? 
A. 'And now let lettuce, with its healthful sleep, 
Make haste, which of a tedious, long disease 
The painful loathing cures." 

Q. How was this vegetable esteemed by the Romans ? 
A. As "a clearer of the senses," and *• a promoter of 
sound sleep." 

Q. When was lettuce first cultivated in England ? 
A. About the year 15G2. 

Q. AVhat did Gerard, an English botanist, think of lettuce ? 

A. In 159*7, he wrote, " Lettuce makes a pleasant salad, 
being eaten raw with vinegar, oil, and salt ; but if boiled, 
it nourishes more." 

Observation. — Gerard further says that " lettuce taken 
before meat stirs up appetite, and eaten after supper it 
keeps away drunkenness from wine, because it stays the 
vapors from rising up to the head." 

Q. What does ancient medical authority say of this plant ? 
A. It says, '' Lettuce cools a hot stomach called heart- 
5 ' D 



50 AGRICULTURE. 

burning-." " It is emollient, cooling-, laxative, and ape- 
rient." 

Q. What did Galen think of lettuce ? 

A He says, " In the decline of age, I am naturally 
wakeful. I suffer much from want of sleep, and to eat 
lettuce in the evening is mv soverei2:n and only rem- 
edy." 

Observation. — Lettuce is raised for early use in hot- 
houses. Hot-house plants may be set out in a rich soil 
in the open air. For later use, the seeds are sown in rich 
garden soil. Let no weeds grow with it. They spoil its 
flavor. 

Find the meaning of the words — Convince, possess, 
devise, botanist, salad, appetite, vapors, emollient, laxa- 
tive, aperient, sovereign. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

The Beet: Sometimes used to make Sugar. 

Q. Of what country is the beet said to be a native ? 
A. Pliny says it is a native of Sicily. 

Q. When were beets introduced into England ? 
A. About the year 1548. 

Q. What is the nature of the beet ? 

A. Its nature is to penetrate low into the ground, and 
it therefore prefers a deep, loose soil, in which it can 
vegetate freely. 

Q. When should the soil be broken for beets ? 
A. In the fall or winter. 

Observation. — The importance of thorough plowing, 
harrowing, rolling, and all other means of pulverizing 
soils, is now well understood. This must be well done 
for raising beets of every kind. 



AGHICULTURE. 51 

Q. When Is a good time to sow beet-seed? 

A. As soon in the spring as the frost is entirely out 
of the ground, say from the middle of April to the mid- 
dle of May. 

Q. What should be done before sowing beet-seeds ? 
A. Pour moderately warm water over them, and iet 
them soak one or two days. 

Q. How should the seeds be planted? 

A. In drills or rows, by means of a drill machine. 

(). flow many seeds are sufficient to plant an acre ? 
A. From three to four pounds. 

Observation. — The beet crop is a valuable one ; both 
tops and roots for animals, and the roots for man. All 
animals eat them with avidity and fatten on them. They 
are excellent winter food for all kinds of cattle. Beets 
are sometimes used for making sugar. Two thousand 
bushels have been raised on an acre of good land. Every 
variety of beet requires the same mode of cultivation. 

Find the meaning of the words — Introduce, penetrate^ 

vegetate. 



CnAPTEFv XXXL 

The Egg-plant: How Raised and Cooived. 

Q. What is an egg-plant? 

A. It is a species of nightshade. 

Q. Of what country is it a native ? 
A. Of the East Indies. 

Q. How is this plant raised ? 

A. From its seed, sown in a hot-bed in March. 

Q. At what time should the plant be transplanted in the 
open air? 

A. In the month of May, as soon as the plants are 
large enough to handle conveniently. 



52 AGRICULTURE. 

Observation. — This plant, like potatoes, requires a rich, 
sandy soil or light loam. The plant will ripen in July, 
and it is a valuable crop for market. 

Q. What is said of the medicinal virtues of the egoj-plant? 
A. " They furnish excellent nerve- and brain-food." 

Q. How are they cooked in the AVest Indies ? 

A. '' Scoop out the inside or seedy part and fry it in 
lard. Boil the outside in water moderately salt, and, 
when drained of water, fill it with the fried part, and 
let it appear whole on the table." 

Q. How are they usually cooked ? 

A. They are cut in thin slices and fried in lard; or, 
after lying in salt and water for a few hours, sliced : they 
may be boiled, and served as mashed turnips. 

Find the meaning of the words — Nightshade, nerve, 
scoop. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

The Tomato: Anti-bilious, and a Preventive of 
Chills and Fevers. 

Q. What can be said of the tomato? 

A. It is an excellent vegetable, of American origin. 

Q. By what other name has it been called ? 
A. The love-apple. 

Q. What medicinal property has it ? 
A. It is anti-bilious, and operates as a preventive of 
chills and fevers. 

Q. How are tomatoes raised for early use ? 
A. The seeds are sown in a hot-bed, where the plant 
grows till it is large enough for transplanting. 

Q. What is the stem on which it grows called ? 
A. It is called a vine. 



AGRICULTURE. 63 

Observation. — The young vine may be raised quite 
early by sowing tlie seed in a rich, sandy soil, well ex- 
posed to the sun. The plants may be transplanted any 
time in June or July. The soil for this vegetable must 
not be very rich, for in this case " it will produce vines 
at tho expense of the fruit." 

Q. What kind of plowing is best for the tomato ? 
A. Deep plowing. 

Q. How may the tomato be raised from the seed in open 
air? 

A. In May, plow and harrow the land, and throw up 
ridges by two furrows thrown together by a bar-share 
plow. Sow the seeds sparingly on the top of the ridges 
and lightly rake them in. 

Observation. — A late crop of the tomato may be raised 
in this manner. The crop is valuable. This vegetable 
is extensively packed in tin cans for winter use, and 
shipped to all parts of the world. Early tomatoes bring 
a high price in market for table use. 

Find the meaning of the words — Tomato, origin, anti- 
bilious, preventive, bar-share, sparingly. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

The Strawberry : The Best Way to Cultivate. 

Q. What soils are best for the strawberry ? 
A. New forest land, a deep, gravelly loam, or a sandy 
loam. 

Q. How is the soil prepared for this plant ? 
A. By clearing it of all weeds and seeds. 

Q. How should it be plowed ? 

A. Yery deep — a foot, if possible. 

Q. Why so deep? 

A. That the roots of the plant may penetrate below 
the effects of a dry season. 



54 AGRICULTURE. 

Q. How far have strawberry-roots been known to run ? 
A. To the distance of four or five feet. 

Q. What kinds of manure is good for the strawberry? 
A. A compost made of bog-earth, leaf-mold, or new 
forest soil, mixed vrith wood-ashes, and a little lime and 
salt. 

Observation. — Use as a manure for this plant all the 
wood-ashes you can possibly procure, rejecting, if 3'ou 
can, every class of highly stimulating manures. These 
will produce runners and leaves at the expense of the 
fruit. When runners predominate, flowers and fruit dis- 
appear. 

Q. How many strawberry-plants ought to occupy a square 
foot of ground ? 

A. Not more than two or three. 

Observation. — It is better if the land be planted in 
corn or potatoes a 3^ear or two previous to planting it 
with strawberry-vines, so as to bring the land into a 
good, light condition. The plants must be worked and 
kept clean by the hoe or cultivator, but be careful, in the 
case of full-grown plants, that the hoe comes not too 
near them. The value of the crop of strawberries pro- 
duced on one well-cultivated acre of land is known to be 
from $100 to $800 ; but if skill and labor are spared, no 
very valuable returns can be looked for. Select your 
plants from the most vigorous runners. 

Find the meaning of the words — Penetrate, effect, 
forest, stimulate, reject, disappear,^ predominate. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Berries: Their Healtiifulness and Pecuniary 
Value. 

Q. What are blackberries ? 

A. They are the fruit of plants commonly called briars. 



AGRICULTURE. 55 

Observation. — Briars are very troublesome to farmers ; 
but, with all this, they hear an excellent fruit, and on this 
account should be cultivated like other fruit-bearing plants. 

Q. What kind of a soil is good for blackberries ? 
A. A moist, loamy soil ; and in such a soil this berry 
will sometimes prolong its bearing from four to six wrecks. 
Once properly planted, they require little or no after-cul- 
tivation. 

Q. How manv plants will set an acre of ground? 
A. About 500. 

Q. How many quarts of berries have been produced from 
a single plant? 

A. From six to eight quarts ; and from one acre of 
land, 2,000 quarts have been gathered, worth 15 cents 
per quart. 

Q. Are gooseberries proli table to the farmer? 
A. They are, because they require but little time in 
their cultivation. 

Q. Where should gooseberry bushes be planted ? 
A. In waste land along walls, fences, or in fence cor- 
ners. 

Q. What is the use of this fruit? 

A. It is used for pies and tarts in the green state, and 
for the table when ripe. 

Q, What of the currant? 
A. It is one of the most valuable of all small fruits. 

Q. What is the use of the currant ? 
A. In the green state, it is used for pies and tarts, like 
the gooseberry. 

Observation. — The currant can be used to such advan- 
tage in a variety of ways, whether green or ripe, that it 
is indispensable on every farm. It makes good wine. 

Q. What of the cranberry ? 

A. It grows and produces fruit in any damp situation. 

Observation. — The surface of a low, damp meadow, 
covered with a few inches of sand, makes good soil for 



56 AGRICULTURE. 

cranberry bushes, and they will soon bear from 150 to 
300 bushels to the acre. 

Q. What of the raspberry ? 

A. It is one of our most excellent and wholesome fruits. 

Q. What kind of soil suits the raspberry? 
A. A rich soil, in the shade of a fence or wall. A 
deep loam is preferable. Break up the ground two feet 
deep, and enrich it with well-rotted compost. 

Observation. — The above-mentioned berries are so well 
known to the farmer, that it is not necessary to dwell 
upon the particulars of their cultivation. They are men- 
tioned to call attention to their great healthfulness and 
pecuniary value. 

Find the meaning of the words — Briar, tart, currant, 
indispensable, pecuniary. 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

The Grape: Beneficial for the General Health. 

Q. How is the grape propagated ? 

A. From cuttings, or short pieces of the stem or vine. 

Observation. — The grape is easily and cheaply raised. 
It is best to prune off the cuttings in February, about 
two feet in length ; bury them in the ground four or six 
inches deep. Leave them in the ground till warm 
weather in May ; then take them up and plant them in a 
sloping position, leaving a bud an inch or two above the 
ground. After a year or two transplant them. 

Q. How are they transplanted? 

A. Make a ditch ten or twelve inches wide, from two 
to three feet deep, and as long as you wish it to be. 
Make a mixture of lime or old mortar, bones, old leather, 
decayed wood, hair, ashes, and barnyard compost, and 
mix with the soil, filling up the ditch. In this soil plant 
the rooted cuttings. The best kinds of grape are now 



u 



AGRICULTURE. 57 

well known to the farmer, who can easily make his choice 
from the nurseries. 

Q. Where should the grape be grown ? 

A. In the warmest and most sheltered situation, say 
the south side of a house, or the southern slope of a hill- 
side. 

Q. To what disease is the grape subject? 
A. To mildew ; but sulphur sprinkled upon it on its 
first appearance will check it. 

Q. How can insects troublesome to grapes be destroyed? 
A. Sprinkle the vines with alkaline soapsuds. 

Observation. — Prune the vines every year in February. 
If pruning is done too late in the spring, the vines will 
** bleed," and grow weak from it. 

Q. What has been said of the vine districts in France? 
A. It is said that lung diseases are unknown to the 
people there. 

Q. What is well known of llie grape? 
A. That the free use of well-grown and well-ripened 
grapes is decidedly beneficial to the general health. 

Q. What kind of spirit is made from grapes ? 
A. A mild alcoholic spirit called wine. 

Q. Is wine-making profitable to the farmer? 
A. It is said to be ; but the sale of the ripe grapes is 
more so, and more convenient to him. 

Find the meaning of the words — Propagate, vine, 
slope, position, mortar, mildew, sulphur, prune, benefi- 
cial, alcoholic. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The Horse-Radisii and Common Radish: Excellent 
FOR Digestion. 

Q. Of what country is the horse-radish a native ? 
A. Of England. 



58 AGRICULTUrvE. 

Observation. — The horse-radish is too valuable a plant 
to escape notice, even in these few pages. Gerard says, 
"it causes better digestion than mustard." It found its 
way to the English tables about the year 159*1, but was 
first cultivated for its medicinal qualities. 

Q. What did Fernel say about the horse-radish? 
A. He said he discovered in it "a true friend to the 
stomach," a preventive of dyspepsia. 

Observation. — Horse-radish root has a sharp, pungent 
smell, and a penetrating, acrid taste. It also contaius a 
sweet juice, which sometimes exudes on the surface. 

Q. For what did Sydenham recommend it ? 

A. For dropsies that follow intermittent fevers. 

Observation. — It creates appetite and assists digestion. 
Scraped and infused in cold milk, it makes one of the 
best and safest cosmetics. 

Q. What kind of a soil is favorable to its growth ? 

A. A moist, deep soil, very rich, and it well rewards 
the cultivator for the time required to mature the root. 
Prepare the ground as for carrots, and thinly sow the 
seed ; or, if roots can be had, cut them in small pieces 
and plant like potatoes. 

Q. Was the common radish known to the ancients? 
A. It was ; for the Greeks esteemed it above most 
other roots. 

Observation. — A Greek writer thought so well of this 
root that he compiled one whole book on it alone. 

Q. How did some of the ancients use it ? 

A. It was eaten boiled ; but the Roman physicians 
recommended that it be eaten raw in the morning with 
salt, before taking any other food. 

Q. How is the radish raised for early use ? 
A. In hot-beds ; but for later use it is sown in the 
open air, like turnips. 

Q. What kind of soil suits the radish? 
A. A light, rich soil, inclined to sand. 



AGEICULTUEE. 59 

Q. When are radish-seeds sown in hot-beds ? 
A. In the month of January. 

Q. When in the open air ? 

A. In the spring, as soon as the frost leaves the 
ground. 

Observation. — This much desired vegetable is welcome 
to the table in early spring. It commands a good price 
in market. It has become one of the leading articles in 
the early spring markets, and later it is heaped up on the 
stalls of the markets, often as high as the heap of pota- 
toes. It is relished by all, old and young ; and the roots, 
when boiled, are thought by some to be an excellent dish, 
and the leaves or tops are sometimes used for greens. 

Find the meaning of the words — Digestion, pungent , 
acrid, exude, intermitting, cosmetic, compile, ancients, 
physician. 



CHAPTER XXXYII. 

Parsley, Celery, and Rhubarb. 

Q. Where was parsley first observed to grow ? 
A. In the island of Sardinia. 

Q. When was it first cultivated in England ? 
A. In the year 1548. 

Q. How was it at that time described ? 
A. As delightful to the taste and agreeable to the 
stomach. 

Observation. — Parsley endures both cold and heat, if 
it is grown in a rich, damp soil. It should always be 
brought to the table with any dish seasoned with onions, 
for it prevents the after-taste and smell of that root. 

Q. What have ancient authors said of this plant ? 
A. "When fish become sickly in ponds, parsley thrown 
in will revive them/' 



60 AGRICULTUEE. 

Q. When should parsley-seed be sown? 
A. In the spring, as early as the ground can be pre- 
pared. 

Q. How should the ground be prepared ? 

A. Choose a rich garden soil, work it deep, and pul- 
verize it well. Sow the seeds sparingly, and rake them 
in. 

Q. How long do the seeds remain in the earth? 
A. About 40 days. They take a longer time to vege- 
tate than perhaps any other seed. 

Q. What is celery ? 

A. It is a strong-scented parsley. 

Q. Where does it naturally grow ? 
A. In marshy grounds. 

Q. How is this plant raised ? 

A. Sow the seeds in March, in low, rich ground, or in 
a hot-bed. 

Q. How are they transplanted ? 

A. Prepare ditches, 18 inches deep and 10 inches wide, 
with a soil in the bottom enriched by stable manure. In 
this set the plants, and gradually fill up the ditch as they 
grov/, taking care not to covxr the buds with the earth. 

Q. What is rhubarb ? 

A. It is a plant of the dock kind. 

Q. For what medicinal purposes did the ancients recom- 
mend this plant ? 

A. For diseases of the liver. 

Q. AVhen should the seed be sown ? 
A. In March or April. 

Q. In what kind of soil ? 

A. In a soil light, loamy, and rich. 

Q. When should the plants be transplanted? 
A. In the fall of the year. 

Observation. — The plants cannot well have too much 
room. Set them five feet apart in a dry soil. They do 
not need much moisture. It requires several years for 



AGRICULTURE. 61 

the root to mature. The stems make the best of pies 
and tarts. 

Find the meaning of the words — Gradually, dock, 
mature, tart. 



CHAPTER XXXYIII. 

Asparagus and Poke. 

Q. What is the meaning of the word asparagus? 
A. It means sprout or shoot. 

Q. What part of this plant is used for food ? 
A. The young sprout or shoot. 

Q. What is said of its qualities ? 

A. It is agreeable to the taste, but affords little nour- 
ishment. 

Q. How is the ground prepared for asparagus? 
A. Work it very deep, say two feet or more, if pos- 
sible. 

Observation. — Enrich the soil with stable manure, lib- 
erally applied. Sow the seed on a well-pulverized sur- 
face. Space will not serve for describing all the particu- 
lars of making asparagus beds and nursing them ; but, 
v/hen properly made, they last nine or ten years, pro- 
vided the young shoots arc not cut oftener than once a 
year. 

Q. V\^hatisp5Z.T/ 

A. It is a North American plant, bearing dark-red 
berries, inclined to purple. 

Q. What is the use of the berries? 
A. They are used for coloring wine, and as a medicine 
for birds. 

Q. AVhat are the young shoots used for? 
A. They are used as a substitute for asparagus, and 
are much more nourishing. 
6 



62 AGRICULTURE. 

Q. What are their medicinal qualities? 

A. When served as asparagus, they act as a soothing 
poultice for a disordered stomach, and convey the most 
enriching form of iron to the blood. 

Q. How is poke generally served at table ? 

A. Being boiled with bacon, it is served as greens. 

Q. When are the yonng shoots of this plant gathered ? 
A. In the month of May or June, when they are 
about six or eight inches above the ground. 

Q. How should the young shoots be out for use? 
A. Cut them near the ground, taking but little of the 
white part next to the root. 

Observation. — Poke greens, or poke served as asparagus, 
stands unrivalled as a purifier of the blood and a remedy 
for dyspepsia. It should not be eaten in large quantities 
at a time, but often, before it grows too large. It often 
remains easy on a weak stomach when every other form 
of nourishing food is painful. It must be well cooked, 
and in this case it is far more tender than asparagus. 

Poke growls wild in such large quantities as to make 
it evident that nature intended it for some valuable pur- 
pose. It is generally regarded as a noxious weed, and 
has been pursued by the farmer with destructive weapons 
until it has been destroyed or driven away to uncon- 
genial soil, and its cultivation as food for man has scarcely 
been thought of. 

Q, What is said of the root of poke ? 
A. It is said ** it has active properties, and is used in 
medicine." 

Q. How ought the ground be prepared for the cultivation 
of poke? 

A. Choose a light, rich soil, and plow it one or two 
feet deep, if possible. 

Observation. — Throw three or four furrows together 
wdth a large bar-share plow. Level off the ridge on the 
top, sow the seeds, and rake them in. No cuttings can 
be taken the first year, for time must be allowed for the 
root to mature. Gather the berries of the wild plant in 



AGRICULTUPwE. 63 

the fall, when they are fully ripe. These contain the 
seeds. Let them dry in winter in a warm place. The 
dry berries containing- a number of seeds should be 
planted on the ridge, about three or four inches apart ; 
and if the plants come up too thick, weed them out, so 
as to leave others standing about three inches apart. 
The plants grow vigorously, mat their roots together, 
and, unlike any other plants, they enrich the ground as 
they grow. One-half an acre of mature roots will yield 
a thousand bundles of sprouts annually, at 10 cents a 
bundle = $100. 

Find the meaning of the words — Incline, substitute, 
poultice J bacon, purifier, evident, noxious, pursue, 
weapon, uncongenial. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The Barometer: Signs of Hain. 

Q. What is a barometer ? 

A. It is an instrument for indicating the coming 
changes in the weather. 

Q. Of what does a barometer consist? 
A. It consists of a narrow glass tube, upwards of 30 
inches in length, open at one end and closed at the other. 

Q. What does this glass tube contain ? 
A. It contains quicksilver. 

Observation. — When the pressure of the air on the 
quicksilver at the open end increases or decreases, it rises 
or falls in the tube. 

Q. How are the indications of the barometer explained? 
A. If, in very warm weather, the quicksilver falls, it 
denotes a thunder-storm. 

Q. What does the fall of the quicksilver in frosty weather 
denote ? 

A. It denotes a thaw. 



64 AGEICULTUEE. 

Observation. — If wet weather happens soon after a 
fall of the quicksilver, there will be but little of it. In 
wet weather, if it continues to fall, there will be a long 
rain, and in fair weather, if it falls much and remains 
low, look out for plenty of rain. It falls lowest of all 
when wind and rain together are coming. 

Q. AVhat does the rise of the quicksilver in winter-thiK^ 
denote ? 

A. It denotes dry, frosty weather. 

^ Q. When dry, frosty weather comes, and it continues to 
rise, what is coming ? 
A. Snow. 

Observation. — If fair v/eather happens very soon after 
the rise, not much of that fair weather can be expected. 
If it rises high in wet weather, and remains so, look out 
for continued fine weather in a day or two. If it sud- 
denly rises very high in wet weather, the following fine 
weather will not last long. Every farmer should have 
a good barometer, and study well its indications. 

Q. What does a circle around the moon denote? 
A. In summer, rain ; in winter, snow. 

Q. What are other signs of rain? 
A. It is said — 

" If in deep red the sun doth rise, 
And wade through clouds to mount the .skies, 
Look out for rain, with joy or sorrow, 
No working in the fields to-morrow." 

Q. What are other reliable signs of rain or " wet v.eather" ? 
A. " The leaves turn up, the grass lies low, 

And sighing winds begin to blow ; 

The crickets crawl, and toads will leap, 

And spiders from their cobwebs peep'; 

When loud the chairs and tables crack, 

And house-flies fall upon their back ; 

When stars at nij^ht are seen no more. 

And railroad trains do loudly roar ; 

And restless dogs howl out a't nijzht, 

Prepare for rain with all your might. 

When low o'er earth the swallows wing, 

And ' Katydids ' do sharply sing ; 



AGRICULTURE. 65 

When Puss in. earnest licks her paws, 
And wipes them on her whiskered jaws, 
The sun behind a cloud will set, 
Denoting a long spell of wet." 

Find the meaning of the words — Instrument, consist, 
indicate, quicksilver, indications. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Review. 

Q. From what does all animal life derive its food? 
A. From vegetation, directly or indirectly. 

Q. How indirectly ? ^ 

A. Some animals live on flesh which is the flesh of 
other animals that live on vegetation. 

Q. What is the use of trees? 

A. They supply man with ripe fruits, and afford shade 
during the warm seasons ; some are cut down and sawed 
into lumber for building purposes and for fuel. 

Q. What have you learned of the use of plants ? 
A. From them man derives food for himself and for 
the animals which are useful to him. 

Q. From what do plants derive their own food? 

A. Principally from the water, which they receive 
from the soil through their roots, and from the air through 
their leaves. 

Q. With what are plants naturally provided ? 
A. With cells or tubes, through which the water cir- 
culates. 

Observation. — Those plants which have the largest 
cells, roots, and leaves require most water. 

Q. What does water hold in solution ? 
A. Substances contained in the soil. 
6* E 



Q6 AGRICULTURE. 

Q. What are these substances ? 

A. They are chiefly carbonic acid, with earthy, vege- 
table, aod animal substances. 

Q. How is carbonic acid gas exhaled ? 
A. From the lungs of animals. 

Observation. — Carbonic acid gas is poisonous to all 
living creatures, yet it furnishes the material which enters 
largely into the formation of trees, flowers, and vege- 
tables. Vegetation sustains animal life, and animal life 
and animal substances sustain vegetation. Vegetation 
extracts from the air that which would be destructive to 
animal life, and it is therefore the means of preserving 
the air in a pure state for the health of man and beast. 

Q. What has been said of snow ? 

A. It keeps the heat of the ground from passing out 
into the air, and protects the roots of plants. 

Observation. — The soil should contain ingredients neces- 
sary to the life of every plant, -whether it be small vege- 
table or large tree. The animal body is so constituted 
as to draw from the earth all the elements necessary to 
the growth of flesh and bone, and the plant draws from 
water, air, and soil all the substances necessary to the 
growth of leaves, wood, bark, flowers, and fruit. 

Q. What is said of the light of the sun ? 

A. It assists in preparing the food of plants, gives 
them their green color, causes their leaves and blossoms 
to open, and their fruit to ripen. 

Observation. — All animals do not eat the same kind of 
food, nor do different plants draw from the soil the same 
kind of food ; therefore each variety of plants must be 
supplied with food adapted to its nature, or it will not 
grow vigorously. This is why the farmer does not sow 
the same seed in the same field every year. 

Q. Where do plants thrive most? 

A. Where the soil allows the roots to spread, and the 
air and water to penetrate to them. 

Observation. — Vegetation prevents the soil from being 



AGKICULTURE. 67 

washed away by rains, and the Avinds supply moisture 
to plants, as well as remove it when the quantity is more 
than sufficient. 



Q. What is the meaning of the word " impalpable " ? 
A. It means not coarse or gross, but very fine, — so 
fine as not to be felt. 

Q. What is meant by azote ? 

A. It means a gas unfit for breathing ; the same as 
nitrogen gas. 

Q. How is the word " nitrogen " defined '.' 

A. ''A gaseous element without tasle, odor, or color, 
forming nearly four-fifths of common air, and incapable 
of supporting life." 

Q. What is hydrogen ? 

A. It is a gas which forms one of the elements of 
water. 

Observation. — This gas forms the ninth part of water, 
and oxygen eight-ninths. It is an inflammable, colorless 
gas, of extreme lightness. It enters as an element into 
the composition of nearly all organic bodies. 

Q. What is oxygen ? 

A. It is a gaseous element, destitute, in its ordinary 
condition, of taste, color, and smell. It serves to sup- 
port life, and, by composition with hydrogen, it forms 
water. 

Q. What is the meaning of the word "annual "? 
A. It means yearly, or returning every year. 

Q. What is an annual plant? 

A. It is a plant which lasts or lives but one year or 
season. 

Q. AVhat is a biennial plant? 

A. It is a plant which lives two years and then per- 
ishes. 

Q. What is a perennial plant? 

A. It is a plant which continues longer than a bien- 
nial. It continues without cessation. It is perpetual, 
or never-failing. 



68 AGRICULTURE. 

Find the meaning of the words — Element, define, 
gaseous, incapable, inflammable, extreme, composition, 
destitute, season, perish, cessation, perpetual, review, 
directly, indirectly, lumber, fuel, derive, principally, 
circulate, cell, carbonic, exhale, lungs, sustain, ingre- 
dient, constituted, vaiHety, adapted, penetrate. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

The Horse, Cow, and Hog. 

Observation. — But for the services of the horse, we 
should have yet been far behind in even civilization, and 
hopelessly behind in agriculture. Without him, our lux- 
uries and comforts would have been vastly limited. He 
has greatly lessened the labor of agriculture, facilitated 
commercial intercourse, and the transportation of men, 
and the produce of the farm to market. He is a willing 
and obedient servant to man, and therefore should be 
well housed and fed. AVithout good and well-fed horses, 
no farmer can prosper. The horse returns to the farmer 
all the care and food bestowed upon him with more than 
compound interest. He requires merely to be kept in 
good order, never to be worked beyond his power, and 
never to be allowed to fall, in condition, below the work 
he is to perform. Give him a clean stable, well-ventilated 
in summer and warm in winter. Speak kindly to your 
horse, for harsh words confuse him and make him false. 
The young horse, or colt, as it is called, is a pleasing and 
playful little animal, in which little girls and boys take 
great interest and delight. When you go out on a farm, 
inquire for the little colts. 

The Cow. — The rearing and feeding of cows is an im- 
portant branch of agricultural industry. The cow is, in 
a most remarkable degree, useful to mankind. She is 
docile, patient, and humble. Her milk forms a rich food 
for the human race, and boys and girls will talk joyfully 
over a glass of cool milk. Milk makes cream, and cream 



AGRICULTUEE, 69 

makes the delicious ice cream so much admired by every 
one. Cream is churned into butter, that delightful article 
that should adorn every table. The little calf is the 
young cow. It is mischievous and playful, and will often 
playfully butt like a goat, but is never harmful. When 
you go on a farm, inquire for the little calf, and see how 
playful it looks. Its large eyes look you in the face, but 
when it is done looking, it will scamper off to a distance, 
as much as to say, '' Catch me if you can." 

The Hog. — Among his live stock, few are more profit- 
able to the farmer than the hog. Like the horse and 
cow, the hog pays back to his owner all the care bestowed 
upon it with a heavy interest. The food of hogs is 
every kind of refuse from the kitchen, as well as vege- 
tables and cereals. When well fed, he grows and fattens 
in a very short time, bringing in quick returns for the 
expense in feeding. Sometimes twelve or fifteen little 
playful pigs appear in their bed. They are roguish little 
fellows, and will creep through the garden fence and steal 
nice fruits and vegetables. Boys and dogs chase them 
out, but if one little prisoner is made, he squeals till he 
gets free. He soon forgets his trouble, and comes back 
again to steal ; but if caught again, perhaps he will have 
a yoke put on his neck, which prevents the little fellow 
from getting through the fence. A pen of pretty hogs 
in the fall of the year is the pride of the farmer. They 
are killed in December, generally, for their flesh, which 
afi'ords us the delicious ham for our tables. 

Find the meaning of the words — Civilization, facilitate, 
comjjound, ventilate, interest, docile, adorn, projitable, 
delicious. 



CHATTER XLII. 

Agricultural Machinery; Its Uses. 

Q. What is a machine ? 

A. It is a complicated piece of workmanship, — an en- 
gine made up from many parts. 



70 AGRICULTUTwE. 

Q. What is an implement? 

A. It is simply a tool, such as a hoe, rake, axe, or saw. 

Observation. — Machines are generally moved by horse-, 
steam-, or water-power ; implements are sometimes used 
by the same power, but most generally by hand. 

Q. What is a cultivator ? 

A. It is a labor-saving implement for stirring the soil 
and keeping it clean from grass and weeds. 

Observation. — A cultivator is a sort of complicated hoe, 
drawn by a horse and guided by a man or boy. It is a 
labor-saving machine ; for one day's work in the field 
with a horse and cultivator will stir more soil and kill 
more weeds and grass than can be done by a man or boy 
with a hand hoe in ten days. 

Q. What is a " horse-hoe cultivator " ? 
A. It is an implement for hoeing or cultivating corn, 
as well as other vegetable and root crops. 

Observation. — It is drawn by one horse, and managed 
by one man or boy. When city and town boys go to 
the country and out on the farms, they should make 
themselves acquainted with the workings of cultivators, 
and all other agricultural machines, tools, and imple- 
ments. Farmer-boys will tell you all about them. 

Q. AVhat are the different kinds of harrows? 

A. The double U harrow, the " square drag," the 
"hinge," the '' triangular," and the "double grain" 
harrow. 

Q. What is said of harrowing? 

A. It is next in importance to plowing. 

Observation. — Harrowing pulverizes the soil. The 
lumps of soil — or clods, as they are generally called — must 
be broken, or reduced to a light and friable condition, for 
they hold the plant-food, and retard the progress of the 
delicate roots sent out in search of food and sustenance. 

Q. What is a " grubbing plow " ? 

A. It is a plow used for clearing new land preparatory 
to using the common plow. 



AGRICULTURE, 71 

Q. What is a " double-shovel plow " ? 

A. It is a plow which stirs the ground deeper than a 
cultivator or harrow, effectually destroying all grass and 
vrceds. It loosens and pulverizes the soil completely, 
causing it to absorb and hold moisture in dry seasons. 

Q. What is a " three-furrow gang plow " ? 

A. It is a plow with three shovels, used for covering 
seeds when sown broadcast. There are, also, two-furrow 
gang ploW'S, and sometimes even four or five. 

Q. What is a " potato-digdng plow '' ? 

A. It is a large shovel plow, drawn by two horses or 
oxen, and will plow out the potatoes as fast as twenty 
men can pick them up. There is not over one bushel in 
fifty that it does not bring out on the surface of the soil. 

Q. What is a " hillside plow " ? 

A. It is a plow so constructed that the mould-board 
may be changed from one side to the other, turning all 
the furrow slices down the hill. 

Q. What is a " self-sharpening plow " ? 
A. Its points are made of steel bans, W'ith five holes, 
by w^hich the point can be let out as it w^cars. 

Q. ^V hat is a "plug plow " ? 

A. It is a plow which runs deep in a soil infested with 
weeds or bramble, turning them well under, and leaving 
the furrow slices perfectly level. 

Q. What is a " Livingston plow " ? 

A. Its mould forms an acute wedge. It is not easily 
choked with grass and weeds, and is a very popular 
plow. 

Q. AVHiat is a " cuflf and brace plow " ? 

A. It is a plow regulated so as to go deep or shallow, 
and cut either a wide or narrow furrow, at the pleasure 
of the plowman. 

Q. What is a " lock coulter plow " ? 

A. It is a plow^ having wTought-iron shares and lock 
coulters laid with steel. They are used for breaking up 
new land, cutting the roots of trees as they move along. 



72 AGRICULTURE. 

Q. What is a " seed sower " ? 

A. It is a machine for sowing all kinds of garden 
seeds, such as carrots, parsnips, beets, peas, beans, etc. 

Q. What is a " broad-cast sower " ? 

A. It is a machine for broad-casting lime, plaster, 
bone dust, ashes, and commercial fertilizer.-^. It is drawn 
by one or more horses. 

Q. What is a " corn coverer " ? 

A. It is a simple implement formed with two small 
shovels to one beam, for covering seed corn when planted 
in hills. With a horse and boy, this machine will cover 
more corn in a day than ten men with hoes. 

Q. W^hat is a " root cutter " ? 

A. It is a machine worked by hand for cutting up 
root crops for food of cattle. 

Q. What is a '' lime spreader "' ? 

A. It is a labor-saving machine drawn by two horses. 
It spreads over the soil either stone or oyster-shell lime, 
in the most regular and perfect manner. 

Q. AVhat is a "field roller"? 

A. It is a cast-iron cylinder for rolling over grass or 
plowed ground. It is drawn by horses. 

Observation. — No farm should be without a roller. It 
is valuable for setting wheat and grasses in the spring 
after the frosts have disturbed the roots. It breaks or 
pulverizes clods after plowing, and binds or hardens 
sandy soil. 

Q. What is a " rubber " ? 

A. It is a simple and valuable substitute for the roller. 
It crumbles and crushes clods that arc too hard and dry 
for the roller. 

Observation. — The rubber is made by splitting or saw- 
ing a log ten feet long lengthwise through its centre. 
The two parts are then joined together, flat side up, by 
nails, and hooks by which horses draw are attached to it. 
Sometimes a round log is used as a rubber or clod-crusher. 
These simple instruments are very valuable and effective. 



AGKICULTURE. 73 

Q. What is a " corn-planter " ? 

A. It is a machine drawn by one horse, and it will 
drop, cover, and roll down ten acres in corn in one day. 
It saves both labor and seed. 

Q. What is a " clover-seed jrathercr " ? 

A. It is a machine which cuts off the seed-heads of 
clover, and leaves the stems standing to be mowed down 
for hay. The revolving rake reaper is now generally used. 

Q. What is a grain cradle? 

A. It is an implement used for cutting down wheat, 
rye, and oats, when ripe. 

Observation. — The cradle is used by hand. It is made 
with a cast-steel scythe for cutting the grain off close to 
the ground ; five fingers, for gathering it together ; a snath 
or handle, and wire braces to hold the fingers in their 
places. With this implement the grain is cut and thrown 
in a swath behind the farmer to be raked up and bound into 
sheaves. The reaping-hook or sickle of old times is a curved 
blade v/ith a saw-tooth edge, about 25 inches long. It is 
used by hand only. It is a slow but effective implement 
in skilful hands, as well as dangerous to young and awk- 
ward reapers, as the writer can testify by a scar, which still 
remains, though received more than sixty years ago. 

Q. What is a " horse-rake " ? 

A. It is a labor-saving machine formed with steel-wire 
teeth curving from a wooden head. It is drawn by horses. 

Observation. — It is useful in the grain field as a gleaner 
after the cradle or reaping-machine, and it is the best 
machine for raking hay. A boy or smart girl can ride 
on it and guide its work. 

Q. What is a masticator ? 

A. It is a straw, hay, and corn-stalk cutter. 

Observation. — This machine is Inade with four cast- 
steel knives attached to two revolving cylinder heads. 
These knives are made to revolve by steam, horse, or 
hand power, cutting the hay, straw, or stalks into small 
pieces convenient for feeding cattle and horses. 
7 



74 AGRICULTURE. 

Q. What is a corn-sheller ? 

A. It is a machine for shelling corn ; that is, separat- 
ing the grain from the cob or spike. 

Observation. — This machine is generally made to run 
by horse or hand. It thoroughly separates the grain 
from the cob and cleans it for grinding. There are also 
strong and elegant machines for grinding ears of corn, 
called.corn and cob crushers. Corn is crushed for fatten- 
ing cattle, and it is sometimes fed to work-horses. It is 
better when fed y^^ith cut straw or hay, moistened. 

Q. AVhat is a reaper ? 

A. It is a machine moved by horse-power, and used 
for cutting grain and binding it into sheaves. It can cut 
and bind more grain in a day than 15 or 20 men with 
hand implements. 

Q. What is a thresher ? 

A. It is a machine moved by horse- or steam-power. 
It separates wheat, rye, and oats from the straw and 
chaff, and puts the clean grain in bags ready for the mill. 

Observation. — A thresher, well tended, will thresh from 
500 to 900 bushels of wheat in a day. It requires 4 or 5 
men to feed it, and 6 or 8 to keep the straw out of the 
way. In all it takes about 20 men to feed it, dispose of the 
grain, and stack the straw, but the job is soon over and 
done with for the year. 

Find the meaning of the words — Complicated, tri- 
angular, delicate, progress, preparatory, gang, con- 
structed, infested, acute, crusher, cylinder, masticator^ 
circular, substitute, centre, commercial. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

The Farm-house. 

Q. What is a farm-house ? 

A. It is a house in which the farmer and his family re* 



side. 



AGRICULTURE. (O 

Q. What is said about the style of a farm-house ? 

A. It is said the house should have some adaptation to 
its situation on the farm, and to the character of the 
scenery by which it is surrounded. 

Observation. — There may be one style for the pictur- 
esque, one for the romantic, and another for the beautiful. 
It is not good taste to build a street-like house on a high- 
land glen, nor a castle-like mansion on a flat. 

The outside appearance of a house should have such a 
relation to its inside arrangements that the spectator on 
the outside should make no mistake as to which is the 
front entrance ; which the drawing-room side, and which 
the office and kitchen. 

Q. When a site is chosen for a house, what is to be thought 
about building material ? 

A. Use that which is nearest at hand, if it is of the 
proper kind. 

Observation. — If good stone is near, nothing is better. 
It is convenient, cheap, and durable. If good clay is con- 
venient, use bricks ; if not, lumber must be used. 

Q. TIow should the front rooms of a d^veHing be finished? 

A. They should be of the highest finish ; and devoted 
to the leisure hours of the family, and to purposes of hos- 
pitality and social intercourse. All the show of outside 
finish should be displayed in front, commanding the best 
and most extended view over surrounding objects. 

Q. What of out-houses ? 

A. They should be shut off from the main dwelling, if 
possible, by shrubbery, fences, and trees. A broad ve- 
randah, on the principal front, if nowhere else, should not 
be forgotten. A background of garden and fruit trees 
is both useful and beautiful. If no forest trees are grow- 
ing, they should be planted around the dwelling, that 
their leaves may absorb malaria, and that cool shades may 
be afforded. If the house cannot be built near an unfailing 
spring of cool water, sink a well and put in it an easy 
pump, such a one as ladies and the other members of the 
family can work with ease. A conservatory for plants 



76 AGRICULTURE. 

and flowers may be constructed by an extension of the 
drawing-room or parlor. The climate of a cold green- 
house, on a sunny day in winter or spring, is a Florida 
olimate. It is better for pulmonary sufferers than an ex- 
pensive trip to the West Indies. Flowers are the most 
pleasing objects and perfect disinfectants, and life is a bur- 
den without them. 

Q. Where should the barn and stables on a farm be located ? 
A. Within convenient call of the family dwelling. 

Observation. — They should be to the leeward of the 
dwelling, to prevent flies from being blown in that di- 
rection. Stable and barn grounds should be high and dry. 
Horses and cows cannot be healthy in damp grounds. 

Q. What is meant by an approach to a dwelling? 

A. It is an avenue leading from the principal high- 
way, and passing through the dressed-grounds to the 
mansion. The approach should not afford a contin- 
uous view of the family mansion. A glimpse from a 
turn or two in the approach impresses upon the visitor 
the commanding position of the dwelling. The main 
approach should not be used by the wheels and imple- 
ments of labor. It should lead to the mansion in the 
easiest possible w^ay, curving around hills and avoiding 
hollows. 

Q. How should the approach be decorated ? 
A. By trees and shrubs. 

Q. What kinds of trees and shrubs? 

A. The larch, horse-chestnut, and holly trees, are 
highly ornamental. Plant sparingly — too much shade is 
not healthy. Maple trees are beautiful and durable. 
Lilacs and roses should be planted near the dwelling. 
Let trees and shrubs, native to the place, have wide 
sweep in luxuriant profusion. 

Q. What other attractive objects are healthful and pleasing 
to the eye ? 

A. The natural tree, the rugged rock, the purling* 
stream, the quiet lake, and the tangled brushwood. . 



AGRICCLTUrvE. 77 

Q. What is in bad taste ? 

A. A road through a wild park, bordered with choice 
roses, vines, and shrubbery, held up by railings, are all 
in bad taste. Domestic flow^ers abhor the wildwood. 

Q. How should all your floral improvements look ? 

A. As if ''nature herself might have done the same; 
that man had only w^ashed her face, and combed her hair, 
and given her a more attractive garb." 

Find the meaning of the words — Reside, style, adap- 
tation, scenery, romantic, picturesque, spectator, ma- 
terial, durable, hospitality, verandah, sliruhhery, pul- 
monary, disinfectant, leeward, approach, decorate, 
luxuriant, garb. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 
Flower Gardens. 

Q. How should flower gardens be placed? 

A. Partially, not wholly, around the mansion. The 
entrance front should be open, as w^ell as the rear. Face 
your terraces with grass slopes instead of walls. A long, 
grassy slope closely shaven by the scythe or lawn mower 
is always pleasing and popular. Flights of steps form 
an excellent means of decorating terraces. 

Observation. — No native forest trees should be allowed 
to grow in or ver}^ near to a garden. They give too much 
shade, and their green roots are poisonous to the roots 
of domestic plants. If forest trees are allowed to grow 
on the borders of a garden, a deep ditch should be dug 
between such trees and the garden soil, to prevent the 
roots of the trees from robbing the roots of the flowers 
and vegetables of their food in the soil ; and, even if 
this is done, the luxuriant foliage of the trees will rob 
the flow^ers of their food in the air. 

Q. In arranging shrubs and ornamental trees in a garden, 
where should the taller ones be planted ? 
A. They should be planted in the rear. 

7* 



78 AGRICULTURE. 

Q. "Where should the smaller ones be placed? 
A. They should be placed in a front position near the 
mansion. 

Observation. — Thus arranged the eye will rest upon a 
continuous and unbroken line of verdure, and the effect 
will be harmonious and beautiful. 

Find the meaning of the words — Fartially, icliolhj, 
entrance, terrace, slope, lawn, nature, forest, poisonous, 
domestic, ditch, border, ornamental, rear, front, posi- 
tion^ mansion, rob, continuous, verdure, harmonious, 
effects. 



CHAPTER XLY. 

Sentiments of Plants and Flowers. 

Q. "What is intended by the sentiments conveyed by i^lants 
and flowers? 

A. The intention is to increase the interest in botanical 
researches among young people. 

Observation. — Flowers have always been symbols of 
the affections, representing pure, tender, and devoted 
thoughts and feelings. 

Q. "What have ancient authors said of flowers? 
A. They said ** flowers are the messengers of the 
heart." 

Q. What have modern writers done towards establishing a 
language of flowers ? 

A. They have selected such interpretations of their 
language as appear most reasonable from their character 
and history. 

Q. "What would a holly tree in the yard of a farm-house 
signify to a visitor? 

A. Domestic happiness, or "a pleasant home amid my 
friends." 

Q. What sentiment does a cedar tree convey ? 
A. ''Think of me." 



AGRICULTURE. 



Q. What does a locust tree signify ? 
A. ''Affection beyond the grave." 

Q. What the magnolia tree ? 
A. "Love of nature." 

Q. What by a pitch-pine tree? 
A. " Time and philosophy." 

Observation.— According to Ovid a very dark green 
pine signifies "pity." A spruce pine signifies "hope in 
adv^ersity." 

Q. What does the snow-ball bush signify ? 
A. " Thoughts of heaven." 

Q. What does the tulip poplar tree signify ? 
A. It signifies "fame." 

Observation. — The tulip tree, or yellow poplar, bears a 
flower resembling a tulip, variegated with yellow and 
orange. This tree is celebrated for its size and beauty. 

Q. What do roses signify ? 
A. Hundred-leaved rose, 

Damask " 

Austrian " 

Bridal 

Burgundy " 

Carolina " 



Deep-red 

Moss 

China 

Versicolored 

Musk 

Red-leaved 

Dark Chinese 

Bud of White 

White 

White (withered) 

Thornless 

Yellow 

Champion 

Rosemary 



Dignity of mind. 

Bashful love. 

Thou art very lovely. 

Happy love. 

Simplicity and beauty. 

Love is dangerous. 

Basbfulness. 

Superior merit. 

Grace. 

You are merry. 

Charming. 

Beauty and prosperity* 

Forsaken. 

Too young to love. 

Sadness. 

I am in despair. 

Ingratitude. 

Let us forget. 

Love's messenger. 

Remembrance. 



80 AGRICULTURE. 

Observation. — The following is the language of other 
well-known flowers : 

Almond flower .... Hope. 

Yellow Acacia .... Concealed love. 

Amaranth Immortality. 

Ambrosia Love returned. 

American Starwort . . Welcome to a stranger. 

Anemone Anticipation. 

Arbor Vita? Unchanging friendship, 

Batchelor's Button . . Hope in love. 

Balm Social intercourse. 

Box Constancy. 

Buttercup Biches. 

Catchfly Artifice. 

Chamomile Energy in adversity. 

China Astor .... Love of variety. 

Clematis Mental beauty. 

Columbine . .^ . . . Desertion. 

Convolvulus . > . . Worth sustained by afl*ection. 

Crocus Youthful gladness. 

Crovvm Imperial . . . Pride of birth. 

Dalfodil Uncertainty. 

Dahlia . ^ Elegance and dignity. 

Daisy Beauty and innocence. 

Dandelion Coquetry. 

Eglantine I wound to heal. 

Elderflower Compassion. 

Flax Domestic industry. 

Forget-me-not .... True love. 

Fox-glove ..... Insincerity. 

Find the meaning of the words — Sentiment, botanical, 
symbol, messenger, modern, interpretation, philosophy, 
signify. 



AGRICULTUEE. 81 





CHAPTER XLYL 






The 


Geranium. 


Q. 


What is the language 


of the geranium ? 


A. 


Nutmeg geranium, 


An expected meeting. 




Scarlet ' 




Consolation. 




Oak 




True friendship. 




Mourning ' 




Despondency. 




Rose ' 




Preference. 




Lemon ' 




Tranquillity of mind. 




Ivy * 




Bridal favor. 




Silver-leaved ' 




Recall. 



Observation. — The poets have also attached a signifi- 
cation to the following well-known flowers : 

Gilly-flower She is fair. 

Golden-rod Encouragement. 

Wild grape Mirth. 

Grass Submission. 

Hawthorn Hope. 

Heart's Ease .... Love in idleness. 

Heliotrope Devotion. 

Hollyhock Ambition. 

Melianthus My love is sweet and secret. 

Honeysuckle, coral . . Fidelity. 

" wild . . Inconstancy. 

Hyacinth, blue . . . Constancy. 

" purple . . . Sorrow. 

Hydrangea Heartlessness. 

Ice-plant An old beau. 

Iris My compliments. 

Ivy Wedded love. 

Jasmine, white . . . Amiability. 

*' yellow . . . Grace and elegance. 

Jonquil I desire a return of alTections. 

King-cup I wish I was rich. 

Lady's Slipper . . . Capricious beauty. 

Larkspur Haughtiness. 

F 



82 



AGRICULTURE. 



Laurel . . 
Lavender 
Lemon Blossom 
Lichen . . 
Lilac, purple 
" white 
Lily, white . 

** yellow 

'•' scarlet 

" of the Valley 
Lotos flower . 
Marigold, yellow 
" French 
Meadow Saffron 
Miirnonette . . 



Monk's-hood . 
Myrtle . . . 
Narcissus . . 
Nasturtium . . 
Nettle . . . 
Nightshade . . 
Oakleaf . . . 
Olive .... 
Orange-blossom 
Ox-eye . . . 
Pansy . . . 
Passion-flower . 
Pea, everlasting 
" sweet . . 
Peach-blossom . 
Peony . . . 
Periwinkle, blue 
white 
Phlox. . . . 
Pink, red . . 

" Indian . 

*' Mountain 



Primrose 



white or variegated 



Virtue makes her charming. 

Acknowledgment. 

Discretion. 

Solitude. 

Fastidiousness. 

Youthful innocence. 

Purity and beauty. 

Playful gayety. 

High-souled. 

Delicate simplicity. 

Estranged love. 

Sacred affections. 

Jealousy. 

I fear not to grow old. 

Your qualities surpass your 

loveliness. 
Deceit. 

Love in absence. 
Egotism and self-love. 
Patriotism. 
Slander. 
Dark thoughts. 
Bravery and humanity. 
Peace. 

Woman's worth. 
Patience. 

Tender and pleasant thoughts. 
Religious fervor 
Wilt thou go with me. 
Departure. 
I am your captive. 
Anger. 

Early and sincere friendship. 
Pleasures of memory. 
Unanimity. 
Woman's love. 
You will always be lovely. 
Aspiring. 

You are fair and fascinating. 
Inconstancy. 



AGRICULTURE. 8S 

Primrose, rose-colored . Unpatronized merit. 

Prickly Pear .... Satire. 

Queen's Rocket . . . She will be fashionable. 

Rosemary Remembrance. 

Rue Disdain. 

Safifron Marriage. 

Sage Domestic virtues. 

Scabious Unfortunate attachment. 

Snowdrop Friendship in adversity. 

Sorrel, wild Parental affection. 

Speedwell Female fidelity. 

Star of Bethlehem . . Reconciliation. 

St. John's Wort . . . Animosity. 

Dwarf Sun-flower . . Your devout adorer. 

Sweet-briar Simplicity. 

Sweet-William ... A smile. 

Thorn-apple .... I dreamed of thee. 

Thyme Thriftiness. 

Tuberose A sweet voice. 

Tulip, red A declaration of love. 

*' variegated . . . Beautiful eyes. 

Violet, blue Faithfulness. 

" white .... Modesty. 

" yellow .... Rural happiness. 

Virgin's bower . . . Filial love. 

Wall-flower Fidelity in misfortunes. 

Water-lily, white . . . Purity of heart. 

Willow, weeping . . . Forsaken lover. 

Witch Hazel .... A spell. 

Woodbine ..... Fraternal love. 

Q. "Why is the earth enriched and adorned with such an 
endless variety of flowers ? 

A. To show the infinite wisdom and goodness of the 
great Creator. 

Q. In what respects are they useful to man ? 
A. The most valuable medicines are extracted from 
their petals, leaves, and roots. 

Q. How are they instructive to man ? 

A. Their marvellous structure shows what complete 



84 AGRICULTURE. 

arrangements are made for their growth and protection ; 
the study of all which is most instructive. 

Q, How do they give pleasure and delight to man ? 

A. By their varied and beautiful formations, by their 
rich and delicate colors of all shades, by their sweet odors, 
and by those refining and elevating influences which they 
exercise upon the mind, the affections, and the tastes of 
mankind. 

Find the meaning of the words — Consolation, despond- 
ency, ambition, fidelity, amiability, capricious, fastidious- 
ness, discreet, patriotism, unanimity, inconstancy, rec- 
onciliation, aniraosity, fraternal, rural. 



CHAPTER XLYIL 
Botanical Geography. 

Q. What does botanical geography treat of? 
A. It treats of the divisions of the vegetable king- 
dom, and their geographical distribution. 

Q. How are vegetable forms divided? 
A. Into flowerless and flowering plants. 

Observation. — A plant is "a collection of wonders." 
The roots, the stems, the branches, the leaves, and the 
flowers are not only perfect in themselves, but are per- 
fectly adapted by their varieties to the place where they 
grow, and the purposes they are intended to answer in 
creation. 

Q. Where is vegetation most luxuriant ? 
A. In tropical countries. 

Observation. — There an abundance of moisture com- 
bines with light and heat to produce trees of an enormous 
size, flowers of the most brilliant colors, and climbing 
plants in great variety. 



AGEICULTUKE, 85 

Q. With what are some seeds of plants furnished ? 
A. With wings, by which they take flight from one 
place to another. 

Q. For what is this flight intended ? 
A. It was intended for the distribution and perpetuity 
of plants. 

Observation. — Seeds often continue their flight till they 
are overtaken by a shower of rain, which, wetting their 
wings, stops their further flight. 

Q. Proceeding from the equator what do we notice? 
A. That tropical plants disappear, and other forms of 
plants mark the change from a hot to a temperate climate. 

Q. What is the character of this change ? 
A. Green meadows, abounding with tender herbs, 
succeed the tall grasses which form the jungle. 

Observation. — Instead of the towering evergreen forests, 
we behold trees which cast ofi" their leaves in winter, such 
as the oak and maple. Here cereals and vines come to 
their highest perfection. The vine is less afi'ected by a 
cold winter than by a cool summer. 

Q. What trees have their seeds furnished with wings ? 
A. The maple and the ash. 

Q. Of what do these wings consist ? 
A. Of a fine membrane, by means of which they fly 
in the air from one place to another. 

Q. With what means of distribution are other seeds pro- 
vided ? 

A. They are provided with hooks or barbs, by which 
they attach themselves to the fur of animals or the 
clothing of men, and arc thus carried far away from the 
place of their growth. 

Q. With what are the seeds of the burdock furnished? 
A. With hooks standing in all directions, ready to 
catch on to any fibrous substance. 

Observation,— Squirrels often carry nuts to a great 
3 



m AGPwICULTURE. 

distance and hide them in the hollow of a tree, and birds 
in their flight carry seeds hundreds of miles. 

Q. By what other means are seeds distributed ? 

A. By the currents of oceans, seas, and rivers. By 
these means seeds are carried from America to the West 
Indies, and from thence other seeds to America. 

Q. Receding still further from the equator what do we 
behold next ? 

A. Magnificent forests of fir and pine trees. 

Observation. — As we gradually approach higher lati- 
tudes we see that the trees dwindle to mere dwarfs, and 
finally wooded vegetation disappears. 

Q. Where is the northern limit of forests? 
A. It is a line along the extreme north of the Western 
continent from Hudson's Bay to Behring Strait. 

Q. What is the last tree found on drawing near the snows 
of the North Pole ? 

A. The dwarf birch, a mere bush. 

Q. Are there any flowering plants in the polar zones? 
A. There are some low annuals which flower during 
the short hot summer. 

Q. Are there any perennials in these zones? 
A. There are a few, which do not rise higher than four 
or five inches from the ground. 

Q. What do the extreme northern regions of America pro- 
duce? 

A. They produce a species of lichen only, much es- 
teemed by hunters as food. 

Observation. — Various species of mushroom which are 
poisonous in temperate regions lose their bad qualities 
in cold climates, and are eagerly sought after as food. 
Plants growing at the sources of the great rivers of 
North America may be transported to their banks in 
warm climates, and, reaching the ocean, they may be 
wafted to foreign countries* 



AGEICULTUPwE. 87 

Q. "Where may seeds from the headwaters of the Missis- 
sippi river be carried ? 

A, To Africa or Asia, distances equal to the earth's 
diameter. 

Q. What may be observed everywhere between the equator 
and the poles ? 

A. Distinct vegetable regions, defined by certain lines. 

Observation. — All plants appear to have been developed 
in certain specific localities, from which they have been 
difi'uscd by natural means, or transported by man to 
distant regions. 

Q. What is said of vep:etables ? 

A. It is said that " the Creator has so endowed these 
plants which are of most value to man, that their culti- 
vation in various climates and on different soils may be 
widely extended." 

Q. AVhat are the principal cereals brought from the Old 
World to the New ? 
A. Wheat, rye, oats, and rice. 

Q. What were the principal fruit-trees? 

A. Most of the finer fruit-trees, the apple, peach, 
cherry, pear, fig, and orange. These were brought into 
Europe from Asia, thence to America. 

Q. With what has America supplied the Old World in 
return ? 

A. Corn, tobacco, and potatoes. 

Q. What is the chief food of one-third of the human race ? 
A. Rice. 

Q. What does rice require in its cultivation ? 
A. A considerable amount of heat and an abundance 
of moisture. 

Q. Where is it principally produced ? 
A. Between the tropics. It was introduced into 
America by Christopher Columbus, in 1493. 

Find the meaning of the words — Botanical, tropical, 
extreme, waft, diameter, regions, specific, locality, 
human, jungle. 



88 AGPwICULTURE. 

CHAPTER XLYIII. 

Cereals. 

Q. What are the principal food-plants of the warm and 
temperate zones ? 

A. Wheat, rye, oats, barley, and potatoes. 

Q. What is barley? 

A. It is a grain used for malt. 

Q. How is barley cultivated? 

A. Like wheat, rye, and oats, on a rich loamy soil. 

Q. AVhen is barley sown ? 

A. As soon as the ground is dry in the spring. 

Q. How much is sown upon an acre of land ? 
A. From six to eight pecks. 

Q. What is buckwheat ? 

A. It is a plant culti\rated for its seed, which makes a 
delightful bread called buckwheat cakes. 

Q. What soil is the best for this plant ? 
A. A mellow, dry, and sandy soil. 

Q. How is the soil prepared for buckwheat? 
A. As for wheat, rye, or oats. 

Q. When is buckwheat sown ? 

A. In the latter part of the month of June, so that it 
may mature before the frosts of autumn come. 

Observation. — Buckwheat is a good and convenient 
manure. A small quantity of seed sow^s a large surface. 
When sown for bread, sow broadcast or in drills, three 
pecks to the acre. When sown for manure, sow two 
bushels to the acre. When in flower, roll it down, and 
plow it in. Decomposition soon converts it into a valu- 
able manure. 

Q. Of what country is buckwheat a native ? 
A. Of Asia. 



AGRICULTURE. b\) 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

Zones, Tropics, and Bread Lines. 

Q. What is meant by the v,- ord zone f 
A. It means helt or girdle. 

Q. What are zones ? 

A. They are divisions of the earth's surface formed by 
the tropics and polar circles. 

Q. What are circles of the earth ? 

A. They are lines imagined to be drawn on its surface. 

Q. What is meant by " the equator " ? 

A. It is a great circle around the middle of the earth. 

Q. What are the poles of the earth ? 
A. They are points^ one at the extreme north of the 
earth, and one at the extreme south. 

Q. What are the tropics? 

A. They are two circles around the earth drawn at 
the distance of about 1400 miles from each pole. 

Q. What is the tropic towards the North Pole called ? 
A. The Tropic of Cancer. 

Q. What is the tropic towards the South Pole called ? 
A. The Tropic of Capricorn. 

Q. What is the circle nearest the North Pole called ? 
A. The Arctic Circle. 

Q. What is that circle nearest the South Pole called ? 
A. The Antarctic Circle. 

Q. What is that part of the earth which lies between the 
Arctic Circle and the North Pole called ? 
A. The North Frigid Zone. 

Q, What is that part called which extends from the Arctic 
Circle to the Tropic of Cancer? 
A. The North Temperate Zone. 

Q. What is that part between the two tropics called ? 
A. The Torrid Zone. 
8* 



90 AGRICULTURE. 

Observation. — The hottest parts of the earth are in the 
Torrid Zone. In this zone, vegetation is very luxuriant, 
the fruits are luscious, and the flowers beautiful. 

Q. AVhat part of the earth does the South Temperate Zone 
include ? 

A. All that part of the earth which lies between the 
Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle. 

Q. "What part of the earth does the South Frigid Zone in- 
clude ? 

A. All that part which lies between the Antarctic 
Circle and the South Pole. 

Q. "What are the principal food-plants of the Torrid Zone ? 
A. Kice, bananas, bread-fruit, dates, cocoanuts, yams, 
and sago. 

Observation. — The bread-fruit tree grows to the height 
of forty feet. It has leaves like the fig-tree, and bears 
large fruit, which, when cooked, is said to taste like 
bread made of wheat. 

Q. "What are the principal food-plants of the Temperate 
Zones? 

A. "Wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, and potatoes. 

Observation.— In the Frigid Zones there is little vege- 
tation. 

Q. AVhat is meant by the vegetable kingdom ? 

A. All the plants which are produced by the earth, 
from the largest tree to the smallest shrub or blade of 
grass. 

Q. "What are the tropical fruits ? 

A. Pineapples, pomegranates,bananas, oranges, lemons, 
olives, figs, and other smaller fruits. 

Q. "What are the fruits of the Temperate Zones ? 
A. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, and other 
fruits. 

Observation. — In the bread countries, where the soil is 
fertile and the climate favorable, a large surplus of grain 
and fruits are collected and sent to less favored regions. 



AGRICULTUrvE. 91 

Q. What is commerce ? 

A. It is the exchange of products between different 
countries. Goods brought into a country are called im- 
ports; those sent out of a country are called exports. 
Commerce is carried on between different countries prin- 
cipally by means of ships or vessels propelled by sails or 
by steam. 

Find the meaning of the words — PrincipoJ, temperate, 
malt, decomposition, belt, girdle, imagine, tropic, ex- 
treme, cancer, frigid, torrid, commerce, propel. 



CHAPTER L. 

Raising Poultry. 

1. Every boy and girl in the country, and even many in 
cities, should keep chickens. They can manage them, 
with a little help, as well as grown people. They are nice 
pets, and pay you back for all the care you give them. 

2. Start with a male and six hens, of whatever kind 
you please. There are many kinds to choose from, and you 
can take what you like best. Learn how to take care of 
a few before you take charge of many. 

3. Houses. — A house 8 feet wide, 8 to 10 feet long, and 
7 feet high is plenty large enough. Large houses are a 
waste of lumber, harder to keep clean, and colder in win- 
ter. Even when you have a large flock, tvro houses of 
that size are better than one large one. The house 
should be battened over the cracks to keep out the 
draughts. It should have a large window facing south, a 
door for you and a small door for the fowls. Holes should 
be cut near the roof to let pure air in. The floor should 
be of dry sand or hard-packed clay. The roosts should 
not be over 4 feet from the floor. Sassafras poles make 
the best roosts, as they keep insects away from the fowls. 
The house should be cleaned every other day, and white- 
washed twice a year. Be careful to whitewash all round 



92 AGRICULTURE. 

the roosts and in the cracks of the house. Put some 
carbolic acid in your whitewash. Remember, that in fowl 
houses, as in our own bodies, want of cleanliness is the 
nearest road to sickness. 

4. Nests. — These can be made in any way, but they 
should be whitewashed every three months and kept nice 
and clean. Soft meadow hay, or clean bright wheat straw, 
well bruised, is the best thing to fdl them with. Keep 
the back to the light. Hens lay best in a dark nest. 

5. It is best, if you can, to have a separate house to 
set your hens in. Move the hen after dark and keep her 
in the house a day or two, when she wants to sit, and 
you will have no trouble. While it is cold 11 eggs are 
enough to put under her ; in warmer weather 15. If 
she breaks an egg in the nest, put in clean hay and wash 
the other eggs clean with warm, not hot, water. 

6. Chicks. — When the hen begins to hatch out, every 
3 hours take from her the chicks that are dry, and throw 
the empty egg-shells out of the nest. Keep the chicks in a 
basket, with an old piece of flannel to keep them warm ; 
in cold weather set near, not too close, to the fire. When 
all are out, take the hen and grease under her wings and 
around her tail with a little carbolic salve. Put her in 
a coop on dry ground, put her chicks with her. At dusk 
is the best time to do this. 

7. Feed your chicks on cooked bread made from corn- 
chop or coarse corn-meal, till they are old enough to cat 
a grain of wheat. Then feed cracked corn and good 
screenings. Put a little salt in the bread. It will do 
them good. Do not give them much to drink at first. 
Milk is better than water. One great secret in raising 
little chickens is in feeding them. Feed them every 4 
hours of daylight, just giving them what they will cat 
up clean and no more. Keep the water or milk clean. 

8. The coops should have no bottom, be kept clean and 
whitewashed like the houses, and moved to fresh ground 
every other day. Do not let the hen out until the grass 
is dry, or until the chickens are at least three days old. 
Let the chickens run out. They will stay near the coop 
and will not get wet or tired. 



AGRICULTUEE. 93 

9. As soon as they begin to get their feathers look at 
them carefully for lice. These will be found about the 
top of the head, under the wings and tail. At dusk, 
if you find they have lice on them, grease them lightly 
with carbolic salve, and put some on the old hen. This 
should be done every month until the fall comes. 

10. It may seem troublesome, but remember that gapes, 
which kills so many chickens, comes from these two 
things — first, feeding wet, sloppy dough, and letting the 
water pans get dirty ; and secondly, from not keeping your 
little chickens clean. 

11. When the warm weather comes let the chickens 
run all you can. Do not keep them shut up. The 
exercise, and the grasshoppers, worms, and bugs that 
they catch will make them grow better than feed, and save 
the feed besides. 

12. If you do as I tell you, you will never have gapes. 
In eight years' breeding I had only six cases. But if you 
do, put a little camphor in your water pans, and salt and 
black pepper in your bread. 

13. In summer keep strips of white oak bark in your 
water pans and keep your houses clean, and you will never 
liave cholera. Cholera is not bad luck, it is bad manage- 
ment. 

14. For old fowls the greatest change in the food is the 
best. By the greatest change I mean not to feed grain 
all the time. When the cook boils a piece of bacon, get 
the pot liquor. Chop up som»e carrots, cabbage, turnips, 
potatoes, anything fit to eat as vegetables, and boil them 
in the liquor. Mix a little meal with it and feed it 
hot in the morning. Then see how your hens lay. Salt 
never hurt fowls yet unless they got too much of it. Too 
much candy is bad for children too. In the winter give 
them a hot breakfast, and corn at night. Give them the 
scraps from the table and all the milk you can get. In 
the summer if they are shut up, pull some grass for 
them. 

15. Treat your fowls kindly and pet them. They will 
soon learn to know you, and you will find them easier to 
take care of. 



94 AGIlICULTUPvE. 

16. Lastly, keep the kind best suited to your wants 
and 3^our place, and not just what you fancy. You will 
soon learn to like those Ijest that j^ou have the best luck 
with, and those will be the kind best suited to you. 

17. For a large farm, take your choice of these: 
Layers only — Leghorns, Hamburgs (these are delicate 
when young, and need great care), Houdans (these must 
have their crests cut oif if there are hawks around). 
Setters — Plymouth Rocks, Dominiques, Games, and 
Wyandottes. For a small place near the city, or in it : 
Layers — Polish and Bantams ; Setters — Brahmas and 
Cochins. 

18. Start with a pure, unmixed kind, and give them a 
fair trial. They look better, are some pleasure to you, 
and are as useful as common chickens. 

19. When your father gives you money for a ball, re- 
member, one ball never makes more. Three fowls may 
bring you in fifty. You cannot play ball always, but 
your chickens will always want some of your time. 

20. When you start, commit to memory these watch- 
words. They will do you good in other things as well 
as in raising chickens : Patience, Thoughtfulness, Clean- 
liness, Kindness, Care. One for each finger, and Care 
for the thumb. Count them over every day of the year 
when you are raising chickens, and you will soon find 
it hard to count all your chickens, you will have so 
many. — T. B. Dorsey, of EllicoWs Mills, Md. 



C II A P T E R L I . 

Sheep Raising. 

Having carefully selected a flock in which there is no 
blemish, the next thing to be considered will be the 
sheepfold ; for without a good shecpfold, there can be no 
certainty of success. Sheep raising, with proper care, is 
a very simple thing, provided the farmer is '* fixed for it ; " 



AGRICULTURE. 95 

otherwise, failure may be looked for with certainty. 
And, before going farther, we will say, that it is a law 
that sheep must be folded every night, be the weather 
hot or cold, if the farmer expects to avoid the attacks of 
his deadly enemy, the Dog. As a general rule, sheep 
are killed by dogs at night w4ien left out in pasture. 
Safely secured at night in a good sheepfold, such a horror 
rarely occurs ; and, by a little patience in training them 
to come up at sunset to a regular ''call," and rewarding 
them on their arrival at the fold w4th a little corn, they 
soon learn to respond from any reasonable distance, and, 
in fact, after awhile, they will prefer to be folded at night 
to being "left out in the cold." But, of course, once 
folded, the fold should be one which is secure against the 
entrance of the midnight foe ; and the plan of a building 
herewith recommended will be a fair model for the be- 
ginner to follow. 

To describe it, we will say that, for a flock of 25 ew^es and 
a buck, the house may be a frame building, 25x20 ; corner- 
posts to be 10 feet high, with a square roof. Let the build- 
ing alw^ays front south, because it will be w^arm in winter 
and cool in summer. Cover the west, north, and east 
sides with perpendicular planking, without any battens, 
so that, when the planks shrink, spaces of about a half 
inch will be left between the boarding to afford ventila- 
Hon — a matter of the first importance to sheep in any 
weather. Let the front, or south side, be picketed with 
7-fect pickets, sharpened at their tops. Divide the fold 
in half with pickets 5 feet high, and have a good front 
picket-gate to each division. The object of this division 
is that, towards the lambing season, the ew^es which are 
sprung, and thus known to be about to drop their young, 
may be separated at night from the main flock, Avhich is 
of the highest importance for the good behavior of the 
mother, as well as for the safety of the young lambs 
when dropped; as, in the early stage of their existence, 
they are liable to be butted or trampled to death by the 
rest of the flock. 

This brings us to the subject of lambing, upon the 
good management of which depends the whole success 



96 AGrvlCULTURE. 

of the business. We have found, from long experience, 
that the first forty-eight hours of a lamb's existence is 
the most critical period. If a lamb can be taught to 
suck, and remains confined with its dam during that time, 
afterwards it will follow her to pasture without risk, 
for the simple reason that, during that period, it learns 
how to suck with confidence and energy ; becomes famil- 
iar with the '' grutting-call " of its mother ; and, above 
all, it acquires strength enough to follow her. And we 
can say, from close observation, that for the want of the 
latter ability, more lambs are lost which are dropped in 
pasture than from any other cause ; for sheep being a 
gregarious animal, if it drops a weak lamb in pasture, 
and the whole flock strays off, if the lamb is unable from 
feebleness to follow its dam, she will cruelly leave it 
behind to perish. 

With regard to young evv^es, much patience must 
be exhibited towards them with their ^rs^ lamb. Some- 
times they will disown it ; in which case we have found 
the best method was to halter the mother in the fold ; 
and, holding up the chin of the lamb, thus aid it to 
acquire the art of sucking ; which operation must be 
repeated every two or three hours. If the mother proves 
obstreperous, and kicks, which, as a general rule, she will 
do, and thus maim or kill her young, let an assistant, 
facing backwards, straddle the neck of the mother, to 
hold her still, while a second person assists the lamb to 
suck. In a day or two the lamb will learn how to *' work 
for its living ; " and the maternal instinct will develop 
itself to the extent of acquiescing in the novel perform- 
ance. 

Supposing then that the whole flock have been safely 
delivered, and they are enjoying themselves in the 
meadow, the next thing to be thought of will be the 
shearing, and, during this operation, we must not forget 
to destroy the probable crop of " sheep-ticks," which are, 
at this moment, the probable cause cf the old sheep rub- 
bing themselves against the rough bark of trees and 
fence sides. To destroy these vermin, a good time to do 
so will be during the shearing. On the day the flock is to 



AGRICULTURE. 97 

be sheared, let the farmer procure a good water-tight 
barrel, and place it near the fold. Let him put a very 
large pot of water over a good fire ; and, when the water 
is boiling-hot, fill the pot with leaf-tobacco to one-fourth 
its capacity ; and, when the decoction becomes the color 
of strong coffee, pour it off into the barrel to cool ; repeat 
this until the barrel is about two-thirds full. Just before 
commencing to shear the old sheep, catch the lambs, one 
by one ; and, holding the feet together in one hand, and 
the nose in the other hand, dip the lamb down thoi'oughly 
into the barrel of tobacco water. As soon as each lamb 
is dipped, turn it loose in a lot, or pasture, where there is 
sun, in order that it may dry off without chilling. It 
will be found upon examination that by this bath every 
tick has been almost immediately killed. If the lambs 
can be allowed to join their dams soon after the shearing, 
it will be found to be of great advantage, as the shock 
produced by the change of appearance in the dams after 
being sheared, and the chocolate color of the fleece of the 
lambs from the dipping, produces a momentary con- 
fusion ; which, if imprudently prolonged, will cause an 
estrangement to spring up between mother and lamb, 
which may cause much embarrassment and produce 
trouble afterwards. 

With regard to shearing, the art being as old as the 
days of Abraham, and so many " professionals " nowa- 
days attend to this matter, that it is almost the better 
plan to have such persons to do it. But for the preparing 
the fleece for the modern market, too much care cannot 
be taken. Competition is so great that to sell ayiything 
to advantage it must look well. And this holds good as 
well with fleeces as anything else ; therefore, we say, if 
you wish to get the top of the market for yo\xv wool, 
prepare your fleeces properly. When the fleece is taken 
from the sheep — presupposing of course that in the opera- 
tion of shearing it has not been torn into rags — lay it 
upon a good, long, ample table. Let two cords of hard- 
ware twine be stretched a foot apart the length of the 
table ; one end of each cord to be caught in a notch at 
the upper end of the table, and the rest of the cords having 
9 G 



98 AGRICULTURE. 

first been passed through two gimlet-holes in the lower 
end of the table, remain attached to the two balls upon 
the floor. Lay the fleece upon the table over the cords, 
" outside up " — the neck at the farther end of the table. 
Fold the two sides inwards to the centre, edge to edge ; 
then fold the neck part over to the centre ; then the hind 
quarter to meet the neck ; then fold the two sides, once 
more together, with their edges upwards ; roll up the 
fleece tightly from the neck towards the hinder part ; tie 
it as compactly as possible with the two cords, like the 
two straps to a soldier's knapsack ; cut the cords, and the 
fleece will then look like a ball of gold. Weigh it, and 
credit each particular sheep with the weight of its own 
fleece. Make a sack out of gunny-cloth, resembling in 
shape the bales of Sea-island cotton, that is, long and 
narrow, and tramp the fleeces into it with strength. Sew 
up the mouth of the sack, stencil it with the owner's 
name, and mark the total number of pounds upon it. 
This latter item tends to save dispute in its sale, if it is 
shipped to an agent. 

Next in order will come the sale of lambs. In this, 
of course, the farmer will judge for himself; but we say 
never sell lambs until they are well grow^n, say from 
seventy to eighty pounds, weight. For the grass will 
still be growing, and it costs nothing to keep them until 
they are at their best. In selling lambs it is always 
judicious to retain the ewe-lambs, for the purpose of 
keeping up the standard of the flock. Sell, therefore, 
only the v/ether-lambs, and the old ewes that are begin- 
ning to fail — retaining now and then some fine buck- 
lamtj for stock purposes. 

Buck-lambs should be altered within four weeks of their 
birth ; and, at the same time, cutting the tails of all the 
lambs, called " docking," should be done. This docking 
is of great importance to the future comfort of the sheep 
in case of "scours." The first operation should always 
be done only by an experienced person ; for, although 
the operation is a very simple one, nevertheless, it re- 
quires skill. The latter, "docking," almost any one can 
do. Let one assistant, seated, hold the lamb with its 



AGRICULTURE. 99 

back against his breast ; with his left hand he holds the 
tail firmly down on a stout plank, at the same time 
drawing the skin towards the lamb. The operator then, 
with a chisel and mallet, cuts the tail off at one blow, 
about an inch and a half from the buttocks , selecting a 
joint for the purpose. A little salt and water, applied 
immediately, will arrest any serious hemorrhage that 
might otherwise follow. Sometimes a fastidious ewe 
A\'iil reject her lamb on account of the smell of blood. 
In this case confine the mother and lamb together for a 
day or two, and she will receive it again. 

With regard to the vital point, the profit in sheep, we 
would say that if the farmer desires a goodly number of 
lambs raised with the least trouble, they should not be 
dropped before the first of April. This can always be 
accomplished by keeping the buck separate from the flock, 
and only letting him join the ewes on the first of 
November. After he has been with them six weeks, 
remove him again until the next season. This is always 
a good plan, as he frequently, if allowed to remain with 
the flock, butts the ewes with great cruelty, and prevents 
them from lying down and resting, by a continual worry. 

When lambs thus come in April, the weather is genial, 
and the grass is all springing up, and the ewes, having 
thus a plenty of succulent food, arc better able to fur- 
nish a generous supply of milk. The lambs, conse- 
quently, under the benign influence of sunshine, plenty 
of milk, and young grass to nibble, thrive better, grow 
faster, and the percentage of loss is nothing compared 
to the loss of winter lambs exposed to cold and snow. 

Lambs should be weaned about the fifth month after 
they are dropped ; and, if possible, the whole flock should 
be weaned at once, as this saves a great deal of trouble. 
In weaning them, select a good, fair day, and try and so 
arrange it that the respective pastures are so situated 
that the mothers will not hear the bleating of their 
young ; for, if not, the weaning will be much retarded. 
Select the best pasture for turning the lambs into, and 
the poorest for the dams, in order that the lambs may 
have plenty to cat, and the ewes little, so that they may 



100 AGRICULTURE. 

" (ky up," and stop the flow of milk. About a week's 
separation will generally be sufficient to accomplish the 
estrangement necessary for weaning; after that time they 
may be permitted to run together again. Sometimes a 
ewe will, in spite of the weaning, continue to make milk, 
which will be known by the appearance of her bag. In 
such a case it will be necessary, at times, to relieve h(;r 
b}^ hand, otherwise her bag may ''cake," and thus injure 
her future usefulness as a mother. 

In conclusion, we would say that no amount of dog- 
laws can ever prevent dogs from killing sheep, if they 
are left out in an exposed, and often isolated, pasture, 
night after night. It is the nature of the sheep to flee 
at\he sight of a dog, and it is the nature of the dog to 
chase, not only sheep, but anything else, man or beast, 
that runs away from him. No dog-law which does not 
authorize the farmer to shoot any dog found trespassing 
upon his premises, unaccompanied by its owner, can ever 
be of any practical value to the farmer. A law which 
requires the farmer to wait until his sheep are chased 
and killed, is a mockery of justice — "prevention is better 
than cure." If the Legislature will not do this, then let 
the farmers universally adopt the plan of folding their 
sheep every night, winter and summer, in a dog-proof 
sheep-fold, as herein described ; and they will find that 
they will be "a law unto themselves." — Col. A. L. Ta- 
veau, of S. C. 



CHAPTER LII. 

The Bee: Its Honey. 

Honey bees are often noticed in ancient poetry and in 
the Bible. Yirgil described them elaborately, and men- 
tioned their kings, drones, and laborers. They have 
queens only, no kings. The drone bee, however, is a 
male, and may have been called a king, for the word 
queen always suggests a king. In what is called a swarm 



AGRICULTURE. 101 

of bees there is but one queen. She is a very large bee, 
about three-quarters of an inch long ; the drones are two- 
thirds of an inch, and the laborers one-half an inch long. 
The queen bee is very gentle, so much so, indeed, that it 
is difficult to provoke her to sting. Her eggs are depos- 
ited in cells of dififerent size, according to the kind of 
bee to be hatched. The cells, or nests, as we will here 
call them, intended for hatching queen bees, are made 
large and long, and the place where hatching and honey- 
making is carried on by the bees is called a hee-hive. 
Glass hives are generally used, through which may be 
seen the queen and her workers performing their respec- 
tive duties. 

"See how the little busy bee 
Improves each sunny hour, 
And gathers honey all the day 
From every opening flower." 

Nature has intended the bee to teach lessons of indus- 
try to mankind, and the drones which do not work afford 
us a sight of the miseries of idleness. 

After the honeycomb is prepared by the laborers, for 
hatching young bees, the queen moves slowly over the 
comb, and looks out for cells suited to her purposes. She 
first puts her head into the cell and examines it carefully, 
and if she finds it "well built, she rolls one of her eggs 
into it. If the cell is not suitable she may leave t'he 
egg outside, and all the eggs thus left are eaten by the 
laborers. 

A kind of worm is hatched from the royal egg in three 
days. For six days it remains a worm, for three days 
longer it is called a nymph, and on the sixteenth or sev^en- 
tcenth day after hatching it is a perfect bee. 

Several royal cells for hatching queens are made in one 
hive. These cells are left open, and the young queen 
first hatched out goes to the other cells and destroys all 
the rest, to prevent them from becoming queens also. 

After the young queen has killed all the rest in their 
cells, the old queen retires from her throne and leads off 
a sw^arm of vouno: and old bees in search of another hive. 



102 AGRICULTURE. 

The young queen remains at home in place of the old 
one flown with the swarm. 

If the queen is lost, the swarm can hatch out another. 
To do this, they take three cells containing eggs for work- 
ing bees, and make these cells into one, enlarging the 
house as the young queen grows. If no brood-comb is 
found in the hive, a new queen cannot be made, and con- 
sequently the swarm of bees perishes. 

If the queen is taken from a hive, the laborers ccaso 
to work, and crawl about sadly as if in search of her ; 
but on putting her in the hive again, the news flies rapidly 
to the most distant bee, and they soon set to work again 
as cheerfully as ever. 

On giving a queen to a queenless hive, the drones and 
laborers give signs of great rejoicing. As soon as she 
presents herself, all the Ibccs surround her in a circle with 
their heads towards her. 

The queen has a bodyguard. When she stops moving 
over the comb-cells, after having deposited her eggs, a 
great number of bees cluster around her, and they do 
nothing without her. 

Only one queen can live in a hive. If two hatch at 
the same time, one kills the other in a fight, and there is 
a terrible commotion among all the other bees until the 
fight is ended. 

The drones may be called gentlemen of leisure and 
ease ; they are lazy and idle, and, like lazy and idle people, 
often make a great noise. Drone bees rise from their 
slumber at about ten o'clock in the morning, a -id, after a 
few hours of idleness at midday, retire to bed again at 
about three o'clock in the afternoon. 

There are at times from 500 to 2000 drones in a hive. 
They are hatched in the month of May, consuming during 
summer a large quantity of food brought in by the 
laborers. In order to save food for themselves in winter, 
the laborers proceed to kill all the drones in October. 
There is a lively time in killing and casting these lazy 
bees out of the hive, but when spring comes, the laborers 
go diligently to work to hatch out others. The drones 
are cowards. They have no stings, and appear to sub- 



AGEICULTUEE. 103 

mit willingly to a violent death for the good of the labor- 
ers and queen. In killing the drones the laborers do not 
sting them to death, but tear them in two or more pieces. 

The laboring bees are females, smaller than the drones, 
and have long stings. When they sting violently, or in 
earnest, the sting is left in the person or thing stung, 
and the loss of the sting results in the death of the 
stinger. When about to sting, the bee utters a sharp 
cry and emits a strong odor ; and if, on hearing this cry, 
girls or boys do not leave the hive, they may expect a 
bee-sting pushed into their flesh like a pin. The effect 
of the sting is quite painful, but not very poisonous. 

The bee laps its food with its tongue like a dog laps 
water. When at the flower, it puts the honey in its 
stomach, and loads its thighs with a sweet dust from the 
open flower. 

The laborers do all the work, gather the honey and 
stow it away in the comb-cells, as well as keep guard and 
nurse the young. 

Some of the bees work as ventilators. Stationed near 
the openings or doors of the hive, they keep up a circu- 
lation of air by a fanning motion of their wings. From 
this work they are relieved every half hour, and others 
take their places. The fanning motion of the wings pro- 
duces a noise as well as a wind, which also scares off any 
insects that may be about the hive. 

If this noise and wind do not scare off the insect, a 
number of the ventilator bees will proceed to kill it. 

Working bees will go a number of miles in search of 
flowers for honey. They greatly prefer the flower of buck- 
wheat, and farmers who keep bees should liberally sow 
this grain for their accommodation. 

When wax is wanted for building comb-cells, the beeg 
fill their stomachs with honey from the flower, and, 
several of them hanging together, the wax is secreted 
from their sides. 

Between November and April about three-fourths of 
the bees in a hive die, but in spring the survivors pro- 
ceed to hatch from the queen's eggs a swarm more 
numerous than the old one. 



104 AGRICULTURE. 

After the spring broods come out of the cells, the old 
queen, with a great number of ethers, both old and 
young, rush out of the hive and swarm, if they have 
not sufficient room and air within, and it is well known 
that the want of room and air, as well as the want of 
a throne for a young queen, lead to commotion and 
swarming. 

The queen occupies the centre of the swarm, and if 
she can be got into a new hive, all the rest will soon 
follow. 

As to the best mode of hiving a swarm of bees, no 
general rule can be given. The noises made by shovels, 
tongs, and tin pans, may be useful to call some one to 
your assistance, but as for the bees, they have no ear for 
such music. 

The little busy bee, that makes the beautiful and ele- 
gant honeycomb we see on our tables, has been described, 
and when you go to the country, try to get a sight of 
the wonderful queen bee, the drones, and the laborers. 
Their work can be seen through the glass windows of 
the hive, and it is exceedingly interesting and instructive 
to children. 



CHAPTER LI 1 1. 

Fruit-Trees. 

It is in the power of every farmer to have delicious 
fruits. Fruit-trees require but little land. Briars in the 
fence corners, offensive weeds, and perhaps poison-oak, 
often occupy a spot of ground where a fruit-tree might 
grow. 

Along the cross-fences where brambles often grow, 
fruit-trees can be planted ; they are pleasing ornaments 
to a farm, and afford a shade delightful to children, as 
well as to small animals. 

An orchard pays well for the labor bestowed upon it ; 
besides, fruit is not onlv delicious to the taste, but when 



AGEICULTURE. 105 

fully ripe, it contributes greatly to the health and the 
comforts of every family. 

For planting an orchard, the best varieties of trees 
should be selected. Good trees require no more land and 
labor than bad ones, and if a bad fruit-tree is found on a 
farm it should be removed and a more promising one 
planted in its place. 

In planting an orchard, consider first the distance the 
trees should be planted from each other. If the cultivation 
of crops of vegetables, grain, and grass in the orchard is 
in view, the spaces between the trees must be wide, say 
30 feet apart. At this distance apart an acre of land 
will contain 48 trees ; at 35 feet apart, 35 ; at 40 feet, 
27 trees, and at 50 feet, about 18 trees. 

Fruit-trees will not grow well in very poor ground. 
The earth must be as rich for trees, generally, as for 
vegetables and cereals, and when a tree is taken up for 
transplanting, it is right to transplant it just as it grcAV 
in the nursery. Transplant it in its new situation just 
as it grew in the old one — no deeper, and cut off no top 
roots. Set the roots in a deep, rich soil, made to suit 
them. Let this all be done in February or March, for 
trees, when planted in the fall, suffer too much from the 
cold of mid-winter. 

When trees are planted in holes they should be dug 
about four feet square and two feet deep. Compost from 
the barnyard, mixed with meadow-mud, is good to put 
in these holes. When the roots of the young tree reach 
it, they grow vigorously. Shells or broken stone is 
good to put around the roots of young trees after plant- 
ing, that moisture may be retained on the top of the 
ground. 

Orchards must be plowed and planted every three or 
four years; for, as vegetation runs wild on the soil, the 
fruit-trees follov/. Trees planted on uncultivated old 
fields will, from their surroundings, soon begin to incline 
to their native wildness. As before observed, cultivate 
your orchards, nurse your trees, carefully remove dead 
and dying branches, and do not let the tree carry more 
branches than will appear well proportioned to the siz^ 



106 



AGEICULTURE. 



of Its body. It is a law of nature that a head too lar-e 
will soon cause the death of the body. Prune your trees 
every year. Lop off all the disproportioned and useless 
branches. Plant them on land well exposed to the sun 
and If the eiirth is loosened around the roots by the force 
of the winds replace it as soon as possible 

^ The best crops for an orchard are potatoes, beets, tur- 
nips, and cabbage which do not require that the earth 
should be worked so deep as to injure the roots of the 



or;;^^te«>e.«~. . 



CHAPTER LIY. 

Canning. 

The best because at once the healthiest and cheapest 
as well as the most toothsome, mode of preservino- fruit' 

Ztr"" ''• ^''. ^^''' ^''y ^'^^^' ^^S-^^' ^« necessary; 
indeed some people use none. Glass jars are to be pre- 
ferred to tin, because they keep the fruit better, are more 
easily managed and while costing a third more at first 
la.st a great deal longer-forever, in fact, if care be taken 
of them. In canning fruit and vegetables two things are 
necessary-the fruit must be put up boiling hot and 

ob.^eived the fruit may be warranted to keep. Have the 
jars all readv, with elastic and tops fitted before you 

tfl'Z ^"J^ '^l ^r^- '? ''""^y ^^ ^^^' ^«" them in 
hot .^ater, scalding hot, with a quick twist of the hand 

diain and stand theni in hot water in a pan on the stove 
close to the kettle. Pill each jar full as quickly as possi- 
ble and let some one stand ready to clap on the top 

jai 1. fil ed. As the fruit cools the top must be tightened 
to suit the contraction of the jar. 

To can berries heat them slowlv to boilino- in your 
preserving kettle When they begin to boil add a heap- 
ing tablespoonful of sugar to each quart of fruit. Boil 



AGRICULTURE. 107 

for fifteen minutes. If there is much syrup, dip it out 
and set aside for jelly or bottled syrup, when it will be 
of much more use than if canned. Blackberries, grapes, 
raspberries, huckleberries, etc., are all excellent canned, 
making pies equal to fresh fruit, and also very good eaten 
with milk for tea. 

Peaches must be cut in halves and packed in the kettle 
with sugar, in the same proportion, sprinkled between 
the layers, putting a cupful of water at the bottom of 
kettle to prevent burning. Heat slowly on the back of 
the stove, then bring to a boil for ten minutes, to be sure 
that every piece of fruit is hot through. Can as hot as 
can be and seal. 

Plums must be pricked with a large needle or hairpin 
to prevent bursting. Then make a syrup, allowing half 
a gill of water and an ounce of sugar to every quart of 
fruit. When the sugar is dissolved and the water is 
warm, put in the fruit and heat to a boil. Keep them 
boiling slowly or they will break, for ten minutes, then 
can. 

For pears, peel and cut up, make a syrup, allowing a 
quarter of a pound of sugar and a gill of water to every 
quart of fruit. Heat slowly, boil ten minutes and can. 
Bartlett pears should have twice the quantity of water 
allowed. Let the syrup come to a boil; then put in the 
pears and cook until clear. Pack in jars, cover with 
boiling syrup and seal. 

Tomatoes are the cheapest and most useful of all can- 
ned fruits or vegetables. Pour boiling water over them 
to loosen the skins, peel and boil for ten minutes, then 
can piping hot and screw the cans as close as possible. 
Green corn is difficult to can. The only way in which 
we have ever seen it successfully done is to boil the corn 
on the cob until the milk ceases to flow. Gut it from the 
cob and pack it in the jars close. Set the jars on the 
fire in a kettle of water and bring the water to a boil. 
Seal while still on the fire. 



108 AGRICULTURE. 

CHAPTER LY. 
Butter. 

It has already been said that butter is made from 
cream, but it may be made by churning the milk and 
cream together. The best butter is made of cream, but 
cream and milk churned together make the largest quan- 
tity of butter. 

if it is desired to make butter of a very superior 
quality, the milk last drawn from the cow at each milking 
should be used. It is rich and nearly all cream. 

When butter is to be made from cream, the cream from 
each milking is put into a vessel until a given quantity 
is collected. Before the cream arrives at too great a 
degree of sourness, it is put into a churn and agitated 
for about an hour ; at the end of this time, the butter 
will appear in the shape of small kernels, which are 
united by pressure. 

A solid mass of butter is thus formed. It is worked 
or kneaded in cold water until the milk is entirely sepa- 
rated from it. Salt must be put in at the first working ; 
then work the butter till nothing but pure and clear 
water can be pressed out of it. 

After the clear water appears, work the butter no more, 
for it may become tough and gluey. Use good and pure 
salt in butter. The Germans use a kind of salt made by 
a slow process which perfectly crystallizes it. 

Too much attention cannot be paid to the most minute 
circumstances in making butter, especially everything 
that relates to cleanliness. The complexion and temper- 
ament of a butter-maker are matters not to be disre- 
garded. However clean he or she may be, there are 
times when the insensible perspiration of the body has a 
powerful effect upon the milk and butter. 

Any kind of an odor may give a turn to the chemical 
change which commences as soon as the milk or cream is 
exposed to the surrounding air. 

In making butter, no water should be permitted to 



AGRICULTURE. 109 

come in contact with the cream or butter, because it is 
known that water dissipates much of the fine flavor that 
gives to butter its high value. 

If the cream is kept clean, the butter needs no wash- 
ing ; and if the butter is dirty, water will never make it 
clean. 



CHAPTER LYI. 
The Weather. — The Moon. 

Observation. — Persons who have devoted their attention 
to the weather have built upon the hope of being able to 
discover, by repeated observations, some rules concerning 
its changes. 

Such rules would be of great usefulness in agriculture. 
Nature " hangs out " many reliable signs for our instruc- 
tion, and if we could at all times read her language, we 
might often escape a loss of time, labor, and crops. 

The influence of the moon on the weather has been 
believed by some people in all ages. This opinion has 
been maintained from the established fact that the moon 
has an influence upon the sea, and it is therefore believed 
that it also has an influence on the atmosphere. 

It has been observed that certain situations of the moon 
in its orbit have almost constantly been attended by 
changes of the weather, either to rain, to wind, to calm, 
or dry weather. 

Be all this as it may, it is, nevertheless, well and proper 
to have some regard to opinions held by men of experience 
on this subject, who have recorded their testimony con- 
cerning predictions, which have generally been verified. 

In every revolution of the moon in her orbit she arrives 
at ten difi'erent points, where she exerts an influence on 
our atmosphere. 

These points are : The new moon, the full moon ; the 
first quarter, the last quarter ; the moon's nearest ap- 
10 



110 AGRICULTURE. 

proach to the earth ; her greatest distance from the earth ; 
her two passages over the equator, known in the farmer's 
almanac by the ''moon's descending," and the ''moon's 
ascending ; " and, lastly, when the moon is nearest the 
point overhead, and when it is farthest from it. 

These ten situations of the moon arc knov^n to be 
attended by changes in the atmosphere. 

They may be great or trifling, producing great or 
trifling changes in the weather ; yet they should be 
marked by every good and careful farmer as to what 
they are worth. 

Changes in the weather seldom happen on the same 
day the moon reaches one of these points, but sometimes 
before and sometimes after that day. 

The points of the moon arc always stormy about the 
time of the equinoxes, which occur about the 21st of 
September and the 21st of March. 

When there has been no storm about the equinox of 
March, the following summer will be dry, at least five 
times in six. 

When a storm arises from an easterly point, either on 
the 19th, 20th, or 21st of May, the following summer 
will be dry, four times in five. 

When a storm arises from any point on the 25th, 26th, 
or 2tth of March, and not before, the following summer 
will be dry, four times in five. 

If a storm arises from the south-west on the 19th, 20th, 
21st, or 22d of March, the following summer will be wet, 
five times in six. 

A rainy autumn and a mild winter are generally fol- 
lowed by a cold and dry spring*, which greatly retards 
vegetation. 

If a summer is very rainy, the following winter will 
be severe. 

If a great crop of acorns, chestnuts, hickory -nuts, and 
small berries appear in the fall, a severe winter is expected. 
Nature is prophetic, and provides for small animals and 
birds. 

The early appearance, on the wing, of wild-geese and 
other birds of passage announces a severe winter ; for it 



AGRICULTUEE. Ill 

is a sig-n that winter has akeady begun, with severe in- 
dications, in northern countries. 

When it rains plentifully in May, it will rain but little 
in September. 

When the wind is generally south-west in summer and 
autumn, much rain may be expected during its continu- 
ance. 

A cold and severe autumn announces a vnndy winter ; 
and a rainy winter predicts poor crops in the following 
j ummer. Much rain in September predicts a dry May. 



CHATTER LYII. 

Tea and Coffee. 

The leaves of a shrub which grows chiefly in China 
and Japan are gathered by the natives of these countries 
and called tea. 

The tea-shrub is an evergreen, grows to the height of 
five or six feet, and bears white flowers resembling white 
roses. 

There are a great number of tea-farms in China and 
Japan, situated on the high grounds, where the soil is 
light, dry, and rich. Tea-plants are raised from seed; 
and, that the stem and the roots of these plants may grow 
and mature, no crop of leaves is taken from them for 
three years. 

The"^ leaves are carefully picked by hand, one at a time; 
and there are three or four gatherings each year. A 
well-grown bush will produce three or four pounds of tea 
each 3"ear. 

For green tea, the leaves are allowed to dry only for 
an hour or two after gathering, and then they are throw^n 
into a roasting-pan placed over a wood-fire. By this 
means the green color of the leaf is set. To make black 
tea, the leaves are allowed to dry for a whole day before 



112 AGRICULTURE. 

they are fired, and are finally dried over a slow fire. Good 
tea will not grow on the farms of this country. 

Coffee is the seed of an evergreen shrub. It was first 
found in Arabia, and is now chiefly cultivated in the 
tropical parts of America. 

Brilliant sunlight gives to coffee its delicious flavor. 
The coffee-plant resembles a laurel bush ; it grows eight 
or ten feet high, and continues in bearing-order for forty 
or fifty years. It bears clusters of white flowers, and 
after the flowers, beautiful red berries. Each berry con- 
tains two seeds, which we call coffee. The seeds arc 
pressed from the berries by means of a rolling-mill, dried 
by the sun on large clay floors, then winnowed, picked 
over by hand, and put in bags or barrels. 

The green coffee is roasted over a moderate fire ; and 
the sooner the coffee is prepared for the table after roast- 
ing, the finer will be its flavor. Coflfee is a stimulant, 
very nutritious, and contains three times as much nourish- 
ment as tea. It will not grow to perfection on the farms 
of our country. 

It is said that the best method of extracting the strength 
from roasted coflee is to pour boiling water through it in 
a strainer. This plan is found to extract nearly all the 
strength. Another method is to pour boiling water upon 
it, and set it upon the fire, not to exceed ten minutes. 

The Turks and Arabs, met by travellers in the Holy 
Land, and in the wildernesses east and south of the 
Mediterranean Sea, boil Cach cup of coffee by itself, and 
only for a moment, before it is offered to the traveller. 
The fine aromatic oil of coffee, which produces its flavor, 
is lost by too much boiling. By this means our most 
delightful breakfast beverage is made flat and weak. 



CHAPTER LYIII. 

Thunder- Storms. 

Thunder-storms are much dreaded by the inhabitants 
of the farm-house, because they are considered dangerous. 



AGRICULTURE. 113 

The chances of persons being injured by lightning are 
far less than the chances of injury in their daily walks 
about business, or even in sleep, from the falling of the 
house in which they reside, or its destruction by fire. 

During a thunder-storm we should keep at a distance 
from the fireplace, especially if the fire be lighted. We 
should also keep away from the walls of our dwelling 
and occupy a place in the middle of the room. The safest 
place is upon a feather bed in the middle of the room ; 
and, indeed, this is the best and safest place for a bed at 
all times. 

It is dangerous to be in a crowd of people during a 
thunder-storm, because a crowd forms a better conductor 
of lightning than one person ; and vapor from a crowd 
is a conductor ; consequently, the more conductors the 
greater the danger. 

When persons out on a farm are overtaken by a 
thunder-storm they should not take shelter under a tall 
tree, because the lightning generally chooses tall trees as 
conductors ; and we should not be near enough to a tree 
for the lightning to diverge from it to us. 

Cattle and horses that take shelter under trees during 
thunder-storms are in great danger. When the light from 
a flash of lightning is seen the danger is past. There is 
no danger in the thunder which follows. 

A lightning-rod is a rod made of metal. It should be 
made to extend from ten feet in the ground all along the 
wall of a building, and end in a point above it. Copper 
makes the best lightning-rod ; and the lightning will run 
down the rod ratlier than the walls of a building. 

A good rod Avill protect a space all around a building 
four times the length of that part of the rod which rises 
above the building. For example, if the rod rises four 
feet above the building, the space protected will be to the 
distance of sixteen feet all around it. 

Dwellings, stables, barns, and all places where animals 
assemble during a storm, should be furnished with light- 
ning-rods. 

10- H 



114 AGRICULTURE. 

CHAPTER LIX. 

Clover. 

Clover is a native of Europe and America. Its intro- 
duction in connection With the rotation of crops has 
contributed largely to improvements in agriculture. 

It affords wholesome food for every other plant, and 
for every class of stock kept on a farm. 

Clover imparts a new and beautiful aspect to the fields 
in which it grows. That which has been introduced in 
agriculture is known by its broad leaves, reddish-purple 
flowers, and luxuriant growth. 

The soil most favorable to the long tap-roots of this 
plant is a deep sandy loam, but it grows well ia almost 
any kind of soil. 

Fed in the green state to horses and cattle it is very 
nourishing, and should be cut and brought into the stable 
for this purpose, that all its waste may contribute to the 
heap of compost in the barn or stable-yard. 

Clover-seeds are sown broadcast, either in the fall or 
spring, on fields set in wheat, rye, or oats. That the 
seeds may germinate and not be lost, they should be 
covered to the depth of at least a quarter of an inch in 
well-pulverized soil. If sown on the wheat-field in spring, 
they should be covered by a light harrowing, so that the 
wheat may sustain as little injury as possible. 

They may be sown on snow in winter ; and, in this 
case, they will be covered by the melting away of the 
snow. These seeds must be always sown in fall, in 
winter, or very early in the spring ; for if sown late in 
the spring, the heat of the sun may kill the young plant 
as soon as it appears above the ground. 

If clover be allowed to grow and fall down upon the 
soil, it will, perhaps, enrich it more rapidly than any 
other mode of treating it. Land is always rapidl}^ en- 
riched by any covering. 

The best wheat crops are raised on a crop of clover 
well turned in by the plow. 

Clover draws but verv little of its nourishment from 



AGRICULTURE. 115 

the soil, but a very large portion from the air. It brings 
from the air to the soil a far greater amount of plant-food 
than it takes away from the soil ; and this fact discovers 
to us the vast powers of clover for enriching poor lands 
on which it is sown. 

A crop of clover made into hay is very valuable for 
milch cows in winter. The crop of clover-hay is harvested 
in June ; the second crop produces a valuable crop of 
seed, which is gathered in the fall ; and the crop from 
which the seeds are gathered makes a second crop of hay. 

When clover is raised for its seeds the ground should 
be clear of weeds. Weed-seeds take away from clover- 
seeds a large portion of their commercial value. When 
a crop of seeds is desirable, the clover should first be cut 
for hay ; then, at times, when the second crop is growing, 
remove from it all noxious weeds, that they may not 
ripen into seeds. By the observance of this rule pure 
clover-seeds may be gathered. 

On small farms it may be desirable to set a lot in clover 
for the purpose of soiling ; that is, for cutting in the green 
state for feeding horses and other animals. 

For this purpose plow" the ground deep, and pulverize 
it well by the harrow. Do this in April, for May is too 
late on account of the approaching heat of summer. Sow 
fifteen or eighteen pounds of pure seeds to the acre, broad- 
cast, and harrow them in with a light harrow. After this, 
a light roller should go over the ground to level it, break 
all the clods, and bury the light stones. 

Do not be afraid you might bury the seeds too deep. 
They will stand an inch or two of light earth very well ; 
and this will protect the germ of the seeds from injury 
by the sun. 

A lot well set in clover will last for " soiling" several 
years. When growing in dry soil it may be cut green 
twice a year for four or five j^ears. After this, the soil 
should be allowed a rest from clover. Although clover 
fertilizes a soil, yet that soil must be allowed a rest from 
it, or impoverishment will follow. 

In setting clover in any soil always sow about fifteen 
or eighteen pounds of seed to the acre. 



116 AGRICULTURE. 

CHAPTER LX. 

Remarks on Grasses. 

It is wonderful to contemplate how long mankind 
neglected the cultivation of those grasses which are the 
chief food of cattle, and the great progress made by the 
enlightened farmer since the general commencement of 
their cultivation for green and dry provender. 

The number of different grasses worthy the notice of a 
farmer, as food for horses and cows, is not more than 
half a dozen. It is highly proper for every farmer to have 
good grasses and hay on his farm, and that in abundance. 
It is improvident to allow a sprig of grass to go to waste 
on a farm b}^ floating down stream, or drying up on 
stone heaps and among coarse brambles. All of it should 
be used for food of animals, covering for soils, or material 
for the heaps of compost. 

A few different kinds of grass should be raised on farms. 
Horses will scarcely eat hay that will do well enough for 
oxen and cows, and sheep are fond of certain grasses, 
fattening upon them and rejecting all others. 

Timothy is the favorite grass of the farmer. It was 
introduced into Europe by Timothy Hudson, where it 
is still known as timothy grass, or meadow caVs tail. 

Timothy ma}^ be set in lands like clover. Some farmers 
set it with clover, but it is recommended that all grasses 
be set alone. Clover matures much earlier than timothy. 
When clover is ready for the scythe, timothy is quite 
green, and lacks the nutritious qualities which it acquires 
by remaining longer in the field. 

Orchard-grass is better with clover, for both acquire a 
proper maturity about the same time, and should fall by 
the scythe together. 

Since the cultivation of grass by farmers has been 
introduced, large hay-farms are found in all parts of the 
country. 

Timothy, well set in good soil, produces from four to 
six tons of hay to the acre ; and when it is allowed to go 



AGRICULTURE. 117 

to seed, from ten to thirty bushels of seed to the acre may 
be gathered ; and the saving* of seed does not essentially 
diminish the crop of hay. 

Timothy and clover, cultivated together, make an 
improved hay for milch cows in winter ; but, as food for 
horses, all the grasses should be grown and fed separateh^ 

Corn, sown broadcast at different times in the spring 
and early part of the summer, makes an excellent food for 
horses and cows w^hen the pastures are scant, especially 
if run through the cutting-box and fed with mill-feed. 
Green corn, to be used in this way, should not be cut 
until its tassel appears ; and a farm should not be without 
a supply of it, in this condition, at all times, from June 
to November. 



APPENDIX I. 

On Teaching Agriculture in the Public Schools. 

My experience of three 3^ears at the Maryland Agri- 
cultural College as president of the board, confirmed my 
former impression as a trustee, that it is a mistake to begin 
teaching farming in a college. Even the sonorous prefix 
" agricultural " by no means remedies such mistake ; nor 
have I seen or heard anything since to change that opinion. 

Must we, then, conclude that agriculture, as a science, 
or as a branch of practical industry, can derive no bene- 
fits or advantages from the schools ? Far from it. On 
the contrary, it can derive very great benefits from 
the schools, if we begin at the right time and in the 
right way. And, in my judgment, the right place is 
in the primary schools, where the "young idea" is 
vigorous and pliant, and mere inclination has not har- 
dened into habit. The first letter of the alphabet stands 
for agriculture ; and while seeking to impress that letter 
on the pupil's mind, how easy it would be for a skilful 
teacher to lead the child imperceptibly to some knowledge 
of the jy^oducts of agriculture. Take an apple, for instance, 
of which all children are fond. While teaching the shape 
and sound of the letter A, let the master also please the 
child by teaching something concerning the beauty of the 
apple, of its fragrance and lusciousness, and of its general 
value and usefulness. In a little while the child will 
want to know where and how the apple is grown and 
cultivated. B stands for bread, as well as for butter. 
Bread is made from flour, and flour is ground from wheat, 
and wheat is the leading product of agriculture. It is cul- 
tivated more widely and is used more generally than any 
other grain grown by the farmer. How is it cultivated ? 
How is it harvested? How is it threshed and prepared 
for market ? How is it converted into flour ? Such 
questions as these would readily arrest the attention 
and excite the interest of the child. From these simple 
beginnings there could be gradually evolved and im- 
pressed on the pupil's mind a valuable fund of informa- 

118 



AGPwICULTURE. 119 

tion ; such as the vast quantity we raise every j^ear, the im- 
mense number of bushels we have over and above our own 
needs for consumption, whither we send it to find a mar- 
ket, particularly our Patapsco flour, which goes to South 
America, whence we get coffee in exchange for it, and to 
almost all portions of the earth, which send us back either 
money or tea or sugar, or the like important needs of 
modern civilization. And as to the letter C, which 
stands for cow and coffee, what bright child would not 
be intensely interested to learn where cofl'ee grows, how 
it grows, how it is harvested, prepared for market, and 
brought to our homes to diffuse its fragrant aroma and 
give us strength, with fresh cream, as well as pleasure ? 
Such a line of inquiry as this brings up the great 
questions of exchanges and barter. The shipload of flour 
is worth more than the shipload of coffee — how is the 
balance of trade adjusted ? The solution of this latter 
question leads in a most familiar and impressive manner 
unto the great subject of political economy. And, in like 
manner, thousands of questions will arise and follow each 
other in most natural order w^hen we once begin to teach 
agriculture where it should be commenced, in the primary 
schools. But where is the authority to introduce it into 
those schools, seeing that the course of studies is " in- 
flexibly " prescribed by law, and that agriculture is not 
one of them ? This is true ; but, fortunately for the 
farmer, reading and geography are included in the 
branches that are required to be taught. Geography 
is defined in Brandos Encyclopaedia of Arts and Sci- 
ences, to mean " everything relating to the circumstances 
and conditions, natural or artificial, of the globe which 
we inhabit ; " and our school geography, maps, and atlas, 
particularly Maury's and Appleton's, are so divided and 
illustrated as to show, almost at a glance, the productions 
as well as the geographical divisions of the earth's sur- 
face. They are intended to be studied and taught in this 
double sense and form ; and thus there is opened to the 
youthful mind a vast, useful, and most interesting field 
of knowledge. Not only do these books and maps tell 
of the natural products of the earth, but they also give 



120 AGRICULTUriE. 

bright glances at the natural history of every country. 
And when the child's mind has become interested in these 
pleasing subjects, how much easier then to fix indeliblv 
in his memory the location of States and cities, rivers and 
mountains, seas and dry land ; where diiferent animals, as 
well as different grains, fruits, and vegetables aTow. 

The child born and raised in the country would thus learn 
more and more to love the country as the source and foun- 
tain of all that is useful, beautiful, and necessary to the 
wants and comfort of the human family. And the child 
born and raised in the city, accustomed only to bricks and 
mortar, to dirty streets, rumbling carts, and the mere works 
of man, would yearn for the green fields, the dense for- 
ests, and the babbling brooks — for the fish, the fowl, the 
frisky squirrel, the lambs, colts, and the calves of the 
farmer, which, to his youthful imagination, constitute 
the sum of human bliss and happiness. Taught in this 
way, geograph}^ is one of the most pleasing and useful 
studies, and might well take the place of the dry study 
of the Constitution of the United States, which should 
be relegated to our statesmen at Washington, or of the 
abstruse study of philosophy, which Roger Bacon says 
cannot be understood without first mastering the mathe- 
matics. ** For," says Bacon, " he who knows not mathe- 
matics cannot know any other science ; and, what is 
more, he cannot discover his own ignorance or find its 
proper remedies." Again, of philosophy, another great 
writer says, " It is the sum total of human knowledge." 

What folly to place abstruse mathematical and scien- 
tific studies into the hands of those children for whose 
early training in the primary and fundamental branches 
our public schools were established and endowed at the 
expense of the State. To show that the great public 
mind is leaning to this sort of practical study, I point to 
the effect of the prizes of one hundred dollars awarded by a 
gentleman of Harford county, to the three boys who would 
produce by their own labor the best three lots of corn. 
The avidity with which the boys of that county applied 
themselves to the task of winning such prizes, has taught 
them a lesson in the art of cultivating corn which will 



AGRICULTURE. 121 

never be lost by them, and which is destined to be widely 
followed and imitated. Already Washington county has 
had a similar contest, with very gratifying results. But 
Montgomery county, jutting down upon the District of 
Columbia, whose Washington city markets she supplies, 
has varied the contest. A public-spirited gentleman 
offered a prize of five dollars for the best pound of Mont- 
gomery county butter, the award to be made at the fol- 
lowing county fair. This ofi'er was quickl}^ followed hy 
additional sums towards the prize until it reached thirty- 
five dollars. This prize for a single pound of butter ex- 
cited a very lively competition. It was won by Mr. 
Ignatius D. Blunt, a young gentleman suddenly called 
from college by the death of his father to take charge of 
the latter's fine and successful dairy of beautiful Alderneys. 

Will any one pretend to say that the money for those 
prizes was thrown away, or that no useful and enduring 
lesson has been taught by the contests which it stimu- 
lated ? As well might you say that there is no truth in 
the maxim, " Competition is the life of trade.'- 

Another reason for introducing agriculture as a branch 
of study into the public schools, is because it will set the 
boys to thinking, which Bishop Kerfoot, kite President of 
St. James' College, said, " was the most important part of 
education," and because the public schools are free schools 
and pervade every part of the State, so that no parent can 
say that either povert}^ or distance excludes his children 
from the benefits and advantages of public school education. 

Believing that the primary school is the true place to 
begin instruction in agriculture, and that it can be well 
and advantageously introduced into our public schools 
under the course of reading and geography, as I have 
endeavored to point out, and that it can be made equally 
interesting, and offer more lasting benefit than many of 
the higher and ornamental branches now taught in those 
schools, I, with a renewal of my best wishes for the joy- 
ous season, beg leave to send this as my Xew Year con- 
tribution to the old American Farmer. 

A. B. Davis. 

Greenwood, Montgomery county, Md. 
11 



122 AGIilCULTURE, 



APPENDIX II. 

In my article upon the public schools, printed in the 
April number of the Maryland Farmer, I suggested 
that the elements of agriculture might be advantageously 
introduced into these schools, under the head of geogra- 
phy. This would not add a new branch of study to our 
already overloaded course of public school instruction, 
only an expansion and a better mode of teaching an ex- 
isting required branch. The branches required by law 
to be taught in our public schools are — reading, writing, 
arithmetic, history of the United States, grammar, geog- 
raphy, and good behavior. These are declared to be the 
necessary branches of public school instruction, and are 
common to all. They are in most of the States called 
'^' common schools." In ours, free public schools, the 
word " free " being used as an equivalent to common, 
making them common schools, like common roads arc 
free and common to all the people. They are supported 
from a common fund, universal taxation, and teach or 
profess to teach common branches of study ; that is, 
branches of study necessary and common to all. When 
the common road advances to the dignity of a turnpike, 
it ceases to be a common road ; it is a special road, im- 
proved at the cost and expense of those desiring the im- 
provement, and kept up by a toll exacted from all who 
use it. The law requires this, and custom and equity 
sanction it. So ought it to be with our common schools. 
Whenever optional branches, such as algebra, natural 
philosophy, physiology, geometry, the Constitution of 
the United States and of Maryland, book-keeping, the 
laws of health, etc., are introduced, not necessary and 
common to all, like the improved road it ought to be at 
the cost and expense of those receiving the advantage. 
An}" other course would destroy the principle of equity 
and equality upon which the system is founded. It is 
like taxing one man for another's benefit. This principle 
has been violated bv forcing the higher branches-— for 



AGPwICULTURE. 123 

which provision has otherwise been made, as I shall 
presently show — into the common school, greatly to their 
injury, and greatly to the added cost of those schools. 
In place of these I would introduce the production of 
agriculture in teaching geography. Geography is uni- 
versally admitted to be a dry study. Talk to a child 
about the latitude and longitude of Calcutta, the bound- 
aries of States and the location of cities, there is nothing 
to interest him ; but point him to the productions, and 
you at once engage his attention. Take, for exampiC, 
the State of Florida, a long tongue of low, level, and 
sandy land, separating the Gulf of Mexico from the At- 
lantic ocean. This, from its peculiar shape, might pos- 
sibly fasten its location upon the memory of some chil- 
dren ; but tell him that Florida is the land of perpetual 
flowers, where frost never blights, where the sugar-cane 
and the delicious oranges and the bananas grow, where 
the alligator is to be found, and you will have no diffi- 
culty in fixing Florida, its location, boundaries, and pro-- 
ductions in the child's mind. 

Take, again, Norwa}^, a rough, irregular country of 
mountains, with continual snow upon their summits, 
and half the State subject to perpetual frosts. There is 
not much here to attract or interest the child, but tell 
him that Norway as well as Lapland is the land of the 
reindeer, where sleds and sleighs are drawn by these 
fleet-footed animals ; that vast quantities of cod and her- 
ring are taken and packed upon its coasts, and that its 
inland streams abound with the beautiful salmon and the 
speckled trout, the delight of the angler and the fisher- 
man, and you give the child something to think about. 
In this way a thousand other objects will suggest them- 
selves to the teacher, and geography will become a prof- 
itable, pleasing, and interesting study to both child and 
teacher. In the same way the geography of Europe and 
America may be studied, their different productions ex- 
changed and sent from one to the other, by which indus- 
try is stimulated and commerce established. In this 
familiar way the child is instinctively led into the prac- 
tical lessons of political economy, barter and sale, the 



124 AGRICULTURK. 

value of exchanges, the use of ships, the founding of 
cities, the opening of canals, turnpikes, and railroads, all 
the direct result of industry and labor applied to the 
productions of the soil. How much more profitable such 
a course of studies for our primary schools than Latin, 
Greek, French, and Hebrew, or the fashionable sciences, 
such as philosophy, poetry, geology, or biology. For 
these latter studies ample provision, as stated, is made 
in our colleges and academies, at an expense of upwards 
of $50,000, in annual donations, and with a corps of 
teachers, professors, and instructor^, averaging one to 
every eight or ten pupils — where the primary schools are 
required to show an average of fifty pupils before a first 
assistant can be called in. How unjust, nay unreason- 
able, to rob the little children, just beginning to learn, 
of the time and attention so necessary for them, to 
teach what at best can be taught but imperfectly, when 
by the liberality of the Legislature so much better pro- 
vision has been made for them in the endowed schools, 
academies, and colleges scattered in almost every county 
in the State. To these are now added many free scholar- 
ships in the Johns Hopkins Universitv. 

A. B. D. 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



— -»• ->o»-jf ^te*i-i^- 



A. 

PAGE 

Agricultural implements . 69 

Agriculture defined . . 7 

Alkali 13 

Ammonia 13 

Approach to dwelling . . 76 

Asparagus 61 



Barometer 63 

Beans 46 

Bee-Lives ...... 103 

Bee, honey 100 

Botanical geography . . 84 

Bread 31 

Bread-fruit 90 

Bread lines 89 

Buckwheat 88 

Butter 108 



C. 



Cabbage . . 
Canning fruits 
Carrots . . 
Celery . . . 
Cereals . . 
Clover . . . 
CoiFee and tea 
11* 



40 

106 

41 

59 

), 88 

114 

111 



PAGE 

Corn 9 

Cows 68 

Cradle 73 



Dressed-grounds ... 76 
Drones 102 



Farm-house 74 

Flower gardens . ... 77 

Flowers, sentiments of . 78 

Fog 7 

Fruit-trees 104 

G. 

Gas 67 

Grass 9 

Grasses 116 



H. 



Hay 10 

I Hogs 69 

Hominy 25 

Hopper-boy 30 

Horse-radish 57 

Horses 68 

125 



12i) 


A I. 


PHARETICAL INDEX. 






L. 


I'AGE 




PAGE 


Land . . 




7 


lie view 


. 65 


Lime 




. . . 1 1 


Rhubarb 

Rice 


. 59 








. 87 




M. 




Roots 


. 9 


Manure 




... 8 


Rotation of crops . . 


. 31 


Mist . . 




<j- 


Rye 


9,35 


Moon, the . 


. 


. . . 101) 










S. 






O. 




Sentiments of flowers . 


. 79 


Oats . . 


, 


. . 0,37 


Sheep 


. 94 


Onions . . 


, 


... 44 


vSigns of I'ain .... 


. 63 


Out-houses 


P. 


. . . 75 


Soil 

T. 


. 7 


Parsley 


. 


. . . 59 


Tea and coffee . . . 


. Ill 


Parsnips . 


. 


... 48 


Thunder-storms . . . 


. 112 


Peas . . 




. . . 47 


Tobacco 

Trees 


. 32 


Peas, canning 


... 48 


. 76 


Plants . . 




... 8 


Turnips 


. 45 


Plow, the . 


. 


... 17 






Poke . . 


. 


... 61 


W. 




Potatoes 




38 


Water 

Weather 


. 7 


Poultry . 


. 


... 89 


. 109 








Wheat 


. 9 




Q. 




Wheat flour .... 


. 30 


Queen bees 


R. 


... 101 


Wheat, history of . . 
Wings of seeds . . . 


. 26 

. 85 


Radish . . 


. . 


... 57 


Z. 




Rain . . 




'. . . 8 
THE 


Zones 

END. 


. 89 



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